Library 

Institute  of  Industrial  Relations 

University  of  Cal  i  fc  rr  ia 


THE  AMERICAN  WORKMAN 


THE 

American  Workman 


BY 


E.   LEVASSEUR. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  INSTITUTE.    PROFESSOR  IN  THE  COLLEGE  OF  FRANCE 
AND  IN  THE  CONSERVATORY  OF  ARTS  AND  CRAFTS 


An  American  Translation 
By  THOMAS  S.  ADAMS,  Ph.  D.,  Johns  Hopkins  University 


Edited  by 
THEODORE  MARBURG,  of  Baltimore 


BALTIMORE 

THE  JOHNS  HOPKINS  PRESS 

I900 


Copyright  1900,   by 

N.   MURRAY 


Z$i  JSoro  Q^afttmorc  (press 

THE  FRIEDENWALD  COMPANY 

BALTIMORE,   MD.,    U.  S.  A. 


lost.  Indus. 


CONTENTS 


Editor's  Preface  ...... 

Author's  Letter  to  the  Translator 

Preface         ........ 

Chapter  I. — The  Progress  of  American  Industry  in  the 
Fifty  Years      ..... 

II. — The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery 

III. — Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations     . 

IV. — Organizations  of  Labor 

V.— The  Strike 

VI. — Wages  of  Men    ..... 
VII. — Wages  of  Women  and  Children 
VIII. — Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages 

IX. — Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets 

X. — Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects 
Index     


Last 


vn 
ix 
xi 

I 

44 
104 
178 
232 
276 
336 
359 
393 
436 
5ii 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

Emile  Levasseur,  the  author  of  the  "  American  Work- 
man," is  a  sincere  and  earnest  man.  The  position  he  has 
occupied  for  more  than  a  generation  in  the  learned  circles 
of  Europe  he  owes  not  alone  to  his  industry,  knowledge 
and  faculty  for  expression,  but  to  a  penetrating  intellect  and 
an  unusual  quality  of  final  judgment  of  principles  and 
events.  It  is  valuable  to  have  the  vast  material  embraced 
in  the  present  study  pass  through  the  mind  of  such  a  man, 
and  to  have  his  pronouncements  upon  the  important  ques- 
tions raised.  It  will  be  found  that  he  has  brought  to  the 
task  an  admirable  understanding  of  America  and  sympathy 
with  it.  His  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  past  and  of 
cotemporary  conditions  elsewhere  and  his  long  experi- 
ence as  a  leader  of  thought  in  his  own  country  enable  him 
to  give  to  the  subject  a  proper  perspective.  Moreover  the 
tribute  he  pays  to  American  ingenuity  and  progress  comes 
with  better  grace  from  him  and  bears  a  stamp  of  greater 
impartiality  than  if  emanating  from  one  of  our  own  citizens. 

The  translator,  Thomas  S.  Adams,  is  a  thoroughly  trained 
economist.  His  work  has  been  faithfully  and  ably  done. 
Added  value  has  been  given  the  study  by  the  degree  to 
which  Mr.  Adams  has  enlarged  the  statistics.  So  far  as 
possible  all  statistics  have  been  brought  down  to  date. 
Where  the  early  figures  had  no  particular  significance,  they 
were  simply  replaced  by  later  ones.  In  other  cases  a  new 
note  has  been  added  or  an  old  one  expanded.  The  addi- 
tions of  the  translator  are  noted  thus:  [Tr.] 

Professor  Richard  T.  Ely  brings  to  the  attention  of  the 
editor  the  fact  that  his  "  Labor  Movement  in  America " 
referred  to  by  Professor  Levasseur  was  written  nearly 
fifteen  years  ago,  that  not  merely  have  conditions  changed 
since  then,  but  that  he  has  modified  somewhat  the  opin- 
ions expressed  therein. 

Theodore  Marburg. 


AUTHOR'S  LETTER  TO  THE  TRANSLATOR 

Dear  Sir  and  Colleague: 

Upon  my  first  visit  to  America  I  was  impressed  from  the 
beginning  with  the  economic  activity  that  appeared  on 
every  side.  After  having  spent  several  months  in  visiting 
the  Centennial  Exposition,  schools,  manufacturing  indus- 
tries and  several  large  cities,  I  came  away  with  the  convic- 
tion that  the  transformation  of  the  immense  territory  of  the 
United  States  into  a  rich  and  civilized  country,  settled  and 
cultivated  scarcely  more  than  a  century,  was  due  less  to  the 
natural  qualities  of  the  soil,  however  great  they  might  be, 
than  to  the  genius  of  the  American  people.  I  felt  that  the 
moral  causes  of  this  magnificent  development  contained 
useful  lessons  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  that  they  mer- 
ited special  study  on  this  account. 

In  1893  I  returned  to  America  with  the  design  of  under- 
taking the  present  study.  "  You  will  find  great  changes  " 
remarked  an  eminent  historian  and  philosopher  before  my 
departure. 

And  the  changes  did,  indeed,  seem  very  great.  It  is  not 
in  the  American  character  to  rest  satisfied  with  past 
achievement;  it  is  always  pressing  ahead.  New  lands 
brought  under  cultivation,  a  prodigious  increase  of  me- 
chanical power,  of  industrial  concentration,  and  of  products, 
a  multiplication  of  the  means  of  communication,  of  large 
associations  of  capital,  wider  organization  of  the  laboring 
class,  and  extension  of  education:  in  all  branches  of  social 
and  economic  activity  I  found  remarkable  development. 

From  the  great  number  of  subjects  presented  I  had 
chosen  in  advance  the  organization  of  industry  and  the 
condition  of  the  laborer,  his  relations  with  the  entrepreneur 
and  the  state  of  his  well-being  considered  as  a  private  indi- 
vidual.    The  emphasis  was  placed  upon  the  latter  half  of 


x  Author's  Letter  to  the  Translator 

the  subject,  and  on  my  return  to  France  I  devoted  four 
years  to  writing  The  American  Laborer. 

The  United  States  constitutes  the  largest  and  most  active 
laboratory  of  economic  experiment  in  the  world,  and  the 
so-called  labor  questions  which  agitate  it,  being  the  same 
as  those  which  occupy  the  attention  of  Europe,  I  believed 
that  such  a  publication  would  not  only  further  the  cause 
of  science  but  that  it  might  enlighten  my  own  country- 
men upon  problems  which  they  themselves  have  to  settle, 
or  at  least  to  comprehend. 

I  also  believed  that  such  a  study,  grouping  in  one  pic- 
ture a  multitude  of  facts  usually  scattered  throughout  a 
great  number  of  different  writings,  and  pursued  in  a  spirit 
strictly  scientific — with  impartiality,  but  with  sympathy — 
might  be  not  without  value  to  American  readers.  A  for- 
eigner sees  the  movement  of  a  nation's  life  from  a  point  of 
view  different  from  that  of  the  citizen  interested  and  in- 
volved in  the  movement. 

The  difficulty  in  the  way  of  interesting  an  American  au- 
dience was  the  language  and  the  length  of  a  work  in  two 
volumes.  To  Mr.  Theodore  Marburg  and  yourself,  my 
grateful  acknowledgments  are  due  for  the  solution  of  this 
difficulty;  to  Mr.  Marburg  for  editing  and  providing  for  the 
publication  of  the  English  edition  in  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University  Studies,  and  to  you  for  the  translation  and 
condensation  of  the  work  into  a  single  volume. 

I  have  read  your  translation  in  manuscript,  with  pleas- 
ure, and  at  your  suggestion  have  modified  several  state- 
ments of  the  original  study.  I  am  indebted  to  you  also  for 
the  introduction  of  the  more  recent  statistics. 

If,  as  I  have  hoped,  the  book  renders  some  service  to 
economic  study  in  America,  our  mutual  labors  will  have 
been  rewarded. 

Sincerely, 

E.  Levasseur. 
26  Rue  Monsicitr-Ic-Princc,  Paris,  September  12,  1900. 


PREFACE 

In  1893  tne  Academic  des  Sciences  Morales  et  Politiques 
entrusted  to  me  the  economic  inquiry  annually  assigned  to 
some  member,  and  instructed  me  to  study  the  condition 
of  the  laboring  classes  in  the  United  States. 

I  had  made  one  visit  to  America  in  1876.  I  made  a  sec- 
ond in  1893,  in  order  to  accomplish  this  mission,  and  spent 
five  months  in  visiting  factories,  workshops  and  the  homes 
of  workingmen.  During  this  time  I  endeavored  to  instruct 
myself  by  making  the  acquaintance  of  manufacturers, 
economists,  and  statisticians,  to  gather  information  by  con- 
versation and  reading,  and  to  collect  the  literature  relating 
to  my  subject.  Since  my  return  I  have  devoted  more  than 
three  years  to  elaborating  this  and  other  material  which 
has  been  sent  to  me,  as  it  was  published,  by  my  order  or 
through  the  courtesy  of  obliging  colleagues,  I  thank 
them  for  their  invaluable  co-operation.1 

1  My  acknowledgments  are  due,  first  of  all,  to  the  Hon.  Carroll 
D.  Wright,  Commissioner  of  Labor,  who  while  I  was  in  America 
had  the  kindness  to  place  me  in  communication  with  prominent 
manufacturers  and  with  his  colleagues,  the  chiefs  of  the  State  labor 
bureaus.  Since  my  return  he  has  aided  me  not  only  by  sending  me 
the  important  publications  of  his  department,  but  by  generously 
providing  for  the  revision  of  the  proofs  of  these  two  volumes.  I 
include  in  my  acknowledgments  Mr.  W.  F.  Willoughby,  who  was 
in  immediate  charge  of  this  revision,  and  whose  counsel  has  been 
most  helpful.  I  wish  to  thank,  also,  Professor  Mayo-Smith  of 
Columbia  University,  who,  happening  to  be  at  the  same  watering 
place  as  myself,  kindly  consented  to  read  over  the  second  and 
third  parts;  Mr.  Sullivan,  a  member  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  who  read  the  proof  sheets  of  several  chapters  while  he  was 
in  Paris  towards  the  close  of  1896,  and  gave  me  the  benefit  of  his 
wide  knowledge  of  labor  problems;  Mr.  Gerin  Lajoie,  a  Canadian 
physician  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  in  Nashua,  and 
later,  in  Paris;  and  Mr.  Schaefer,  an  Alsatian,  now  living  in  Man- 
chester, New  Hampshire. 


xii  Preface 

Several  times  while  the  book  was  being  written,  I  made 
the  economic  condition  of  the  United  States  the  subject 
of  my  course  of  lectures  at  the  College  de  France,  and  I  thus 
found  it  necessary  not  only  to  study  the  subject  in  detail, 
but  to  present  my  results  as  clearly  as  possible.  During 
this  time  I  contributed  several  extracts  from  the  work  to 
the  reviews,  particularly  American  reviews,  in  the  hope 
of  evoking  criticisms  which  would  help  me  to  improve  the 
work;  several  chapters,  as  they  were  written,  I  read  before 
the  Academy.  I  now  present,  in  these  two  volumes,  the 
complete  result  of  my  study  of  the  American  laborer. 

The  work  is  divided  into  three  parts.  In  the  first,  the 
Laborer  at  Work,  I  have  considered  the  toiler.  I  have 
treated  him  in  connection  with  the  employer,  and  with 
the  workshop  where  he  spends  his  working  day;  in  his  rela- 
tions to  production,  of  which  he  is  an  agent,  and  with 
whose  increase  his  interests  are  intimately  connected;  as 
a  member  of  those  associations  by  which  he  hopes  to  regu- 
late to  his  advantage  the  conditions  of  the  wage-contract. 
I  have  illustrated  and  discussed  factory  legislation,  de- 
scribed the  strike,  and  examined  the  various  questions  that 
arise  in  this  connection ;  the  rate  and  variation  of  wages, 
non-employment  caused  by  crises  and  slack  seasons,  com- 
petition with  American  labor  created  by  immigration. 
From  this  study  of  facts  I  have  attempted  to  evolve  the 
law  of  wages  and  discover  the  causes  which  regulate  the 
price  of  labor,  purposely  confining  myself  to  a  statement 
of  the  opinions  of  American  writers  who  have  treated  the 
subj< 

In  the  second  part,  the  Laborer  at  Home,  I  have  con- 
sidered the  man.  I  have  described  his  manner  of  life,  his 
food,  dress,  dwelling,  recreations,  habits.  In  the  first  part, 
the  investigation  centered  around  the  workshop.  Here, 
the  family  is  the  center  of  the  investigation.  The  Laborer 
at  Work  ends  with  a  study  of  nominal  wages.  The 
Laborer  at  Home  ends  with  a  study  of  real  wages — the 
sum  of  well-being  which  the  laborer  as  a  man  procures 
with  the  money  he  receives  as  a  workman. 


Preface  xiii 

If  the  first  two  parts  are  devoted  to  facts,  the  third  part, 
I  may  almost  say,  is  devoted  to  theories.  In  this  part, 
Labor  Problems,  I  have  considered  the  antagonism  be- 
tween capital  and  labor,  the  perpetual  contrast  between 
poverty  and  luxury,  the  dependence  of  the  employee  upon 
the  employer,  the  precarious  livelihood  and  the  scant  com- 
fort of  the  masses  that  live  by  their  daily  toil;  finally,  the 
causes  which  array  one  part  of  the  laboring  classes  against 
the  existing  organization  of  society,  inspire  generous 
spirits  with  the  desire  of  assisting  their  fellows,  and  to 
curious  or  speculative  minds,  suggest  theories  of  social 
transformation  by  which  they  hope  to  eradicate  positive 
evils.  This  is  why  I  have  found  it  necessary  to  describe 
the  work  of  poor-relief,  public  and  private,  to  examine 
the  various  forms  of  co-operation  and  employers'  relief — 
particularly  profit-sharing  and  productive  co-operation — 
to  investigate  the  extent  to  which  arbitration  and  con- 
ciliation have  proved  useful  in  industrial  disputes,  to  dis- 
cuss the  assertion  that  the  protective  tariff  is  the  bul- 
wark of  high  wages,  to  describe  the  experiments  of  social- 
istic settlements  and  depict  the  diverse  theories  and  work- 
ing policy  of  socialism.  In  the  last  chapter  I  have  briefly 
recapitulated  the  principal  conclusions  to  which  the  study 
of  facts  has  led  me,  and  have  ventured  to  cast  a  glance 
into  the  future  which  presents  conditions  seeming  to 
promise  for  American  industry  and  American  labor. 

I  have  adopted  this  plan  because  it  seemed  clear  and 
logical  for  a  work  which  is  essentially  an  economic  history. 

Economic  truths  possess  an  interest  of  their  own,  inde- 
pendent of  the  inferences  that  can  be  drawn  from  them. 
One  must  have  facts  to  grasp  a  situation  or  discuss  a  ques- 
tion with  authority.  The  author's  task  is  to  gather  accu- 
rately the  greatest  possible  number  of  facts;  to  select, 
soberly  and  critically,  those  most  fitted  to  characterize  the 
situation;  and  finally,  to  group  and  exhibit  them  in  an 
orderly  arrangement  so  as  to  form,  where  possible,  an 
instructive  picture. 


xiv  Preface 

Furthermore,  these  facts  have  causes  and  consequences. 
It  is  another  duty  of  the  author  to  present  them  in  such  a 
way  that  cause  and  consequence  will  appear  in  their  proper 
relation,  or  at  least  be  distinguishable. 

In  economic  history,  as  I  understand  it,  the  author  is 
not  a  mere  annalist;  he  is  philosopher  as  well,  who  draws 
a  moral  from  experience  and  attempts  to  enlighten  eco- 
nomic practice  by  quoting  the  past  at  the  same  time  that 
he  labors  to  improve  economic  theory  by  investigating 
the  laws  which  govern  facts.  Hence,  while  yielding  the 
principal  place  to  facts,  he  must  review  and  pass  judgment 
upon  them.  To  be  sincere  and  well  informed,  to  pos- 
sess the  judicial  mind  and  a  knowledge  of  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy,  these  are  the  essential  quali- 
fications for  the  writer  who  would  treat  questions  of  this 
nature. 

The  great  historian  of  the  revolution  and  the  empire, 
Thiers,  has  compared  the  historical  work  to  a  perfectly 
transparent  glass,  through  which  every  object  is  seen  as 
in  the  plane  of  a  perspective.  To  my  mind,  he  asks  at 
once  too  little  and  too  much.  The  historian  cannot  show 
everything,  nor  should  he  attempt  it.  Composition  always 
requires  selection  and  arrangement,  and  every  writer, 
whether  he  is  conscious  of  it  or  not,  is  a  judge.  To  con- 
tinue the  analogy,  I  should  say  that  the  glass  through 
which  he  causes  the  objects  to  be  seen,  may  distort  the 
images.  But  if  the  narration  has  been  sufficiently  faithful, 
the  reader  will  have  enough  facts  at  his  command,  will  be 
able  to  view  them  without  the  lens  of  the  author,  and  may 
accept  or  reject  the  author's  interpretations. 

There  has  been,  and  there  will  continue  to  be,  much 
discussion  as  to  the  use  of  the  historical  method  in  politi- 
cal economy.  Among  economists,  as  in  many  other  pro- 
fessions, there  are  a  few  narrow  minds  who  are  never  able 
to  see  more  than  one  side  of  a  question.  Some,  starting 
from  the  principles  that  human  society  is  in  a  state  of  un- 
ceasing evolution  and  that  economic  phenomena  are  mere 


Preface  xv 

accidents  of  time  and  place,  tell  their  story  without  caring 
to  finish  it  and  without  attempting  to  look  beneath  the 
surface  for  the  economic  law  in  whose  existence  they  do 
not  believe.  These  are  the  annalists;  they  are  not  the 
real  historians  of  political  economy.  Equally  as  unworthy 
of  the  title,  are  those  who  manipulate  their  facts  as  they 
would  an  army,  bending  the  lines  of  history  to  fit  the  plan 
of  their  own  preconceived  campaign. 

Others  declare  that  political  economy  is  a  science  which 
has  need  of  only  a  very  limited  number  of  observations  to 
establish  its  fundamental  laws  upon  a  solid  basis,  These 
maintain  that  the  essence  of  phenomena  is  always  the 
same;  they  are  convinced  that  a  multiplicity  of  historical 
detail  adds  nothing,  in  fact,  that  it  has  the  actual  disad- 
vantage of  obscuring  the  process  of  deduction  by  intro- 
ducing differences  based  upon  wholly  accidental  condi- 
tions. Holding  their  views,  one  would  be  at  a  loss  to 
construct  a  system  of  natural  laws  from  the  conglomera- 
tion of.  abnormalities  and  economic  errors  which  are  so 
frequent  in  human  societies.  Such  economists  are  pure 
theorists,  and  regard  the  science  as  wholly  deductive  and 
rational. 

There  undoubtedly  exists  a  special  order  of  facts  known 
as  economic,  which,  without  being  the  single  center  whither 
all  the  interests,  ideas,  and  passions  of  humanity  gravitate, 
forms  nevertheless  one  of  the  pivotal  points  of  the  social 
movement.  But  this  class  of  facts  is  intimately  com- 
mingled with  other  social  phenomena,  and,  after  it  has 
been  isolated  for  the  purposes  of  analysis,  it  cannot  be 
rightly  understood  until  it  is  studied  in  connection  with 
the  whole  social  movement  peculiar  to  each  nation  and 
each  epoch.  It  may  be  the  subject  of  special  study:  it 
should  be  and  it  is,  precisely,  the  subject-matter  of  eco- 
nomic science.  It  may  be  asserted  that  this  science  is  at 
present  incapable  of  complete  development,  on  the  grounds 
that  contradictory  and  irreconcilable  judgments  often 
manifest  themselves  in  the  interpretation  of  economic  facts, 


xvi  Preface 

and  that  the  social  sciences,  in  conformity  with  the  society 
they  study,  are  in  a  state  of  perpetual  becoming-.  But  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  we  have  here  the  subject-matter 
of  a  science. 

In  general,  the  economists  of  the  first  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  were  theorists:  Ricardo  and  Rossi,  for  in- 
stance, belong  to  this  category.  During  the  second  half 
of  the  century  more  attention  has  been  paid  to  historical 
research,  the  observation  of  phenomena,  the  condition  of 
the  people;  and  while  these  researches  have  enlarged  the 
horizon  and  confirmed  certain  laws,  they  have  also  shaken 
the  faith  that  was  once  reposed  in  the  universality  of  others. 
Roscher  was  one  of  the  masters  who  blazed  the  new  path, 
and  it  was  in  his  footsteps,  some  forty  years  ago,  that  I 
entered  the  domain  of  economic  science,  through  the  door 
of  history,  by  writing  the  Rccherches  Historiqucs  sur  le  Sys- 
tems de  Law,  and  afterwards,  the  Histoirc  des  Classes 
Ouvrtires  en  France. 

In  a  field  so  vast  as  economics,  the  student  may  take  up 
the  work  at  many  different  points  and  still  produce  fruit- 
ful studies.  It  has  been  said  that  political  economv  is  a 
physico-social  science.  I  add  that  it  is  more  social  and 
moral  than  physical,  because  the  content  of  the  science 
consists  principally  of  the  relations  established  between 
men  in  the  exchange  of  goods  and  services,  even  though 
its  subject — wealth — is  material.  Having  a  definite  scope 
and  a  number  of  solidly  established  principles,  political 
economy  seems  to  be  more  advanced  than  most  of  the 
moral  sciences. 

The  theoretical  school  expounds  the  science,  or  some 
division  of  it,  by  a  methodical  concatenation  of  proposi- 
tions, and  arrives  at  simple  and  logical  conclusions  through 
the  processes  of  deduction.  The  experimental  school 
presents  the  subject  in  a  more  concrete  way  by  endeavor- 
ing to  found  its  demonstrations  upon  positive  proofs;  but, 
though  resting  upon  history,  it  has  a  dogmatic  doctrine  of 
its  own.     Observation  preserves  this  school  from  the  dan- 


Preface  xvii 

ger  of  losing  its  qualities  of  reality  and  fruitfulness,  allows 
it  to  test  the  doctrines  of  the  deductive  school,  to  penetrate 
the  secrets  of  the  life  of  nations,  and  thus  to  interpret  the 
diversity  of  phenomena  at  a  given  epoch,  or  their  variation 
from  one  epoch  to  another.  As  the  material  interests  of 
society  change,  the  experimental  science  may  extend  its 
researches  and  the  bearing  of  its  doctrines,  and  show  the 
intimate  relation  that  always  exists  between  economic 
phenomena  and  the  whole  social  being. 

Like  all  the  moral  sciences,  political  economy  gives  rise 
to  various  schools  which  sometimes  succeed  one  another 
and  sometimes  exist  side  by  side,  struggling  for  the  su- 
premacy. I  would  class  myself  with  the  liberal  school,  the 
school  which  is  sometimes  called  classical,  sometimes 
orthodox,  though  both  terms  are  unfortunate.  Orthodoxy  in 
science  should  be  unknown,  and  there  is  nothing  truly  clas- 
sical but  the  truth.  No  sincere  effort  to  clear  or  cultivate 
the  domain  of  economics  is  out  of  place.  There  is  room 
for  all:  the  narrator  who  is  content  to  record  facts;  the 
statistician  who  enumerates  them;  the  mathematician  who, 
at  a  great  risk  of  failure,  attempts  to  fix  in  algebraic  formulas 
the  relations  resulting  from  exchange.  "  Each  study  supple- 
ments the  other;  there  is  no  rivalry  or  opposition  between 
them,"  Professor  Marshall  has  said.  I  prefer  this  attitude 
to  that  of  those  economists  who  feel  themselves  obliged 
to  tear  preceding  theories  to  pieces  in  order  to  call  atten- 
tion to  their  own  innovations.  They  do  not  perceive  that 
besides  incurring  the  reproach  of  undue  severity  and  lack 
of  modesty,  they  discredit  the  authority  of  their  own 
science.  A  small  herb  may  be  planted  anew  each  year, 
but  a  great  tree,  that  is  to  live  through  the  centuries, 
retains  its  general  form  and  develops  by  the  gradual  addi- 
tion of  branches  and  the  slow  renewal  of  its  tissues. 

Economic  history  has  a  prominent  part  in  this  har- 
monious development.  It  is  true  that  the  economist  needs 
no  history  to  establish  certain  simple  notions,  such  as  the 
axioms   that   production   results   from  the   co-operation   of 


xviii  Preface 

three  factors,  and  that  value  is  a  ratio  fixed  by  exchange 
lift  ween  two  quantities  of  commodities,  although  these 
concepts,  like  others,  were  only  gradually  evolved  and 
formulated  in  the  works  of  the  masters.  But  to  differ- 
entiate accurately  the  roles  of  the  three  factors  in  past  and 
present  combinations  of  human  industry,  or  to  ascertain 
the  relation  of  the  methods  of  exchange  to  the  general 
social  economy  of  nations,  we  must  have  recourse  both 
to  history  and  a  minute  analysis  of  a  large  number  of  facts. 

The  human  mind  has  a  natural  inclination  to  simplify 
and  generalize;  it  is  one  of  its  innate  philosophical  proper- 
ties. The  economist  obeys  this  inclination  when  he  seeks 
to  find  the  explanation  of  his  phenomena  in  a  single  cause 
and  condense  its  expression  in  a  brief  formula.  But  eco- 
nomic like  all  social  phenomena  are  often  the  resultants 
of  complex  and  even  conflicting  forces  which  do  not  lend 
themselves  to  this  reduction.  Such,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the 
law  of  population.  In  a  theoretical  chapter  of  my  work 
La  Population  Frangaise,  I  have  criticised  the  law  which 
Malthus  proposed,  while  eulogizing  the  author,  and  have 
tried  to  express  it  by  a  more  flexible  and  comprehensive 
group  of  causes.  In  conformity  with  the  same  method, 
I  have  attempted  in  two  chapters  of  the  present  work  to 
enumerate  and  measure  the  influences  affecting  wages, 
and  to  gauge  the  interaction  of  the  rate  of  wages  and  the 
standard  of  comfort  of  the  laboring  class.  This  is  one  of 
the  principal  theoretical  subjects  which  I  have  proposed  to 
myself  in  writing  The  American  Laborer. 

Every  economic  movement  does  not  necessarily  lead  to 
a  formula,  though  the  common  basis  of  all  is  theorv.  Many 
of  these  movements  cannot  be  ignored  by  the  economist, 
because  they  raise  questions  which  are  continuallv  being 
thrust  forward  and  which  cannot  be  left  unanswered.  The 
labor  problems  are  of  this  number:  they  have  become 
social  and  political  questions  of  the  gravest  importance. 
Many  of  those  who  concern  themselves  with  these  ques- 
tions regard  them  as  the  greatest   menace  of  our  times; 


Preface  xix 

others  hail  them  as  the  prelude  to  a  social  regeneration. 
I  prefer  to  see  in  them  an  evolutionary  crisis  which  con- 
flicting passions,  rather  than  divergent  interests,  have  in 
our  day  rendered  acute.  In  all  probability  we  shall  be 
troubled  with  them  for  a  long  time.  But  from  the  very 
nature  of  things,  the  conflicting  interests  must  finally  be 
brought  into  harmony,  passions  be  softened  by  a  better 
provision  for  the  contingencies  that  arise,  and  this  without 
changing  the  basis  of  social  organization  necessary  to  the 
progress  of  civilization  and  the  economical  functioning  of 
society.  In  this  connection,  without  being  absolutely  op- 
timistic, I  gladly  apply  to  Europe  what  I  say  of  America 
at  the  end  of  this  work:  Fata  viam  invenient.  For 
although  it  is  manifest  that  the  equilibrium  between  the 
political  and  economic  powers  of  every  nation  must  in 
time  be  disturbed,  and  that  the  relations  between  the  social 
classes  must  be  modified  by  the  progress  of  democracy  and 
the  development  of  industry,  it  is  impossible  that  the  whole 
civilization  of  the  world  should  suffer  an  eclipse  so  long 
as  science,  liberty  and  individual  enterprise  exist. 

The  transformation  of  small  manufactures  and  the 
growth  of  the  unit  of  industry,  the  regulation  and  inspec- 
tion of  factories,  the  employment  of  machinery  and  manual 
labor,  the  work  of  women  and  children,  the  competition 
between  native  and  imported  labor,  apprenticeship  and 
manual  training,  the  mode  of  payment  and  the  rate  of 
wages,  the  causes  and  effects  of  the  diversity  of  wages, 
profit-sharing  and  premiums  for  fast  work,  strikes  and 
lock-outs,  arbitration  and  conciliation,  the  conditions  of 
living  and  the  lodging  of  the  working  classes,  the  influ- 
ence of  the  standard  of  comfort  upon  the  rate  of  wages, 
saving  and  foresight  in  workingmeirs  families,  pauperism 
and  poor-relief,  employers'  aid,  labor-unions  and  associa- 
tions of  employers,  co-operative  production  and  consump- 
tion, the  propaganda  of  a  spirit  of  antagonism  between  em- 
ployer and  employee,  the  desire  for  revolution  common  to 
all  systems  of  socialism   in   spite  of  their  diversity:  these 


xx  Preface 

are  some  of  the  facts,  movements  and  problems  which  are 
to-day  presented  in  the  industrial  world.  They  are  often 
spoken  of  collectively  as  the  labor  question  or  the  social 
question,  but  they  are  really  distinct  problems  for  the  most 
part,  incapable  of  settlement  by  a  single  solution.  While 
we  are  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  bonds  that  unite  them,  we 
must  study  them  one  at  a  time,  trace  out  the  cause,  the 
essence,  the  effect  of  each  movement,  and,  where  it  is  pos- 
sible, the  special  solution  of  each  problem.  As  a  rule,  this 
group  of  facts  and  ideas  is  the  more  varied,  animated,  and 
important  as  the  industrial  centers  in  which  they  manifest 
themselves  are  freer,  larger  and  more  active.  In  these 
three  qualities  the  United  States  yield  place  to  none. 
Thanks  to  the  number  of  inhabitants,  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise and  the  industrial  freedom  which  characterize  them, 
they  have  come  to  be  a  laboratory  for  social  and  industrial 
experiments,  vaster  and  more  active  than  any  other  in  the 
world. 

It  is  fitting  that  we  should  study  them;  for  their  own 
sake,  in  the  first  place,  that  we  may  know  the  United 
States:  in  the  second  place,  for  the  inspiring  example  they 
offer  science  in  its  task  of  solving  similar  problems  in 
Europe.  This  is  why  I  have  written  The  American 
Laborer. 

E.  Levasseur. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  AMERICAN  INDUSTRY 
IN  THE  LAST  FIFTY  YEARS 

Brief  Comparison  Between  the  Statistics  of  Agri- 
culture and   Manufactures;   the   Value   of 
Census  Statistics 

Agriculture  is  the  principal  source  of  wealth  in  the 
United  States,  and,  as  I  have  shown  in  my  work,  U Agri- 
culture aux  Etats-Unis,  it  has  undergone  a  notable  develop- 
ment since  the  Civil  War.1  The  progress  of  manufactures, 
which  develop  later  than  agriculture,  has  been  even  more 
rapid  in  the  last  twenty-five  years,  and  although  the  sta- 
tistics are  not  accurate  enough  to  permit  an  exact  measure- 
ment of  the  importance  of  this  change,  some  idea  of  it 
may  be  obtained  from  a  comparison  of  the  census  sta- 
tistics of  1880  with  those  of  1890.  In  1880  the  capital 
employed  in  agriculture  was  estimated  at  $12,104,001,538, 
the   value   of  agricultural   products   at  $2,212,540,927.     In 

1  It  is  noteworthy,  however,  that  at  first,  the  colonial  promoters 
looked  to  manufactures  rather  than  to  agriculture  for  their  profits. 
In  his  second  voyage  to  the  United  States,  Captain  Newport 
brought  over  a  number  of  workmen  skilled  in  the  manufacture  of 
pitch,  tar,  glass,  soap-ashes,  etc.,  who  were  employed  in  various 
forest  industries.  The  directors  of  the  London  Company  having 
threatened  to  abandon  the  colonists  unless  some  return  for  their 
adventure  was  forthcoming.  Captain  Smith  made  an  immediate 
shipment  of  cedar  posts,  walnut  boards,  and  other  products  of 
their  industrial  experiments.  The  attempts  at  manufacturing  were 
but  moderately  successful.  In  ten  years  the  workshops  were  in 
ruins  and  the  colonists  had  turned  to  the  cultivation  of  tobacco. 
See  The  Industrial  Evolution  of  the  United  States,  by  Carroll  D. 
Wright,  p.  23. 


2  The  American  Laborer 

1890  the  capital  had  increased  to  $15,982,267,689  and  the 
value  of  the  products  to  $2,460,107,454.  The  capital  em- 
ployed in  manufactures  was  estimated  at  $2,790,272,606  in 
1880  and  at  $6,525,156,486  in  1890.  The  respective  valua- 
tions of  manufactured  products  in  1880  and  1890  were 
$5'369.579-I9i   and  $9,372,437,283. 

The  truth  of  these  figures  cannot  be  admitted.  It  is 
impossible  to  believe  that  the  value  of  the  manufactured 
products  is  actually  four  times  as  great  as  that  of  the  agri- 
cultural products,  or  that  the  value  of  the  products  manu- 
factured in  one  year  greatly  exceeds  the  capital  employed 
in  their  production.  The  valuation  of  the  products  is 
plainly  exaggerated.  This  exaggeration  is  accounted  for 
by  the  following  facts.  Agricultural  produce  is  generally 
valued  at  the  farms  and  is  counted  but  once.  Manufac- 
tured products,  on  the  other  hand,  are  counted  at  each  fac- 
tory and  the  same  raw  material  figures  in  a  series  of  values 
which  increase  every  time  the  material  passes  from  one 
manufacturer  to  another.2 

The  figures  of  one  census  are  not  strictly  comparable 
with  those  of  another,  even  when  we  confine  ourselves  to 
manufactures.  Statistics  of  this  kind  are  always  and  every- 
where mere  approximations,  often  vague,  often  purposely 
false,  and  in  the  United  States,  the  form  of  inquiry  and 
the  mode  of  grouping  the  returns  vary  from  one  census  to 
another. 

In  the  census  of  1890,  an  effort  was  made  to  avoid  these 
errors  by  distinguishing  the  value  of  the  material  from  that 
of  the  product,  and  by  preparing  a  comparative  table 
which  included  only  those  industries  investigated  in  both 


'  The  American  statisticians,  and  Col.  Wright  in  particular, 
realize  that  the  estimates  of  the  manufactured  product  are  exces- 
sive. As  Col.  Wright  expresses  it:  "No  calculation  has  been 
made  in  any  case  which  would  eliminate  the  raw  material:  so  there 
is  a  constant  duplication,  and  sometimes  a  reduplication  of  values 
in  the  value  of  the  product,  because  the  raw  material  of  one  manu- 
facturer is  the  finished  product  of  another." 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  3 

the  tenth  and  the  eleventh  censuses.3  Subtracting  the 
value  of  the  material  from  that  of  the  product,  the  surplus 
created  by  the  process  of  manufacture  was  found  to  be 
about  two  billion  dollars  in  1880  and  about  four  billion  in 
1890.  But  this  correction — a  very  delicate  one — is  in- 
sufficient. I  cannot  believe  that  a  value  greater  than  that 
of  the  aggregate  agricultural  product  has  been  added  by 
the  process  of  manufacture,  and  if  some  duplication  did 
not  remain,  we  should  not  find  five  billion  dollars'  worth 
of  raw  material  consumed  in  the  manufacturing  industries 
of  a  country  in  which  agriculture  yields  less  than  two  and 
one-half  billion.  However,  as  the  same  method  of  com- 
putation was  employed  in  1880  as  in  1890,  the  apparently 
legitimate  conclusion  is  reached  that  the  value  of  manufac- 
tured products  has  increased  about  sixty-nine  per  cent,  in 
the  ten  years  1880- 1890,  while  the  agricultural  product 
has  increased  in  value  (a  very  different  thing,  it  should  be 
noted,  from  an  increase  in  quantity)  only  about  nine  per 
cent.  It  will  not  do  to  press  the  comparison  too  far,  how- 
ever, and  conclude  that  there  has  been  an  increase  of  just 
sixty-nine  per  cent,  in  ten  years.  In  spite  of  the  care 
taken  to  compare  only  those  industries  which  appear  in 
both  documents,  it  is  probable  that  the  figures  still  fail  to 
represent  units  of  exactly  the  same  kind. 

By  far  the  most  defective  item  in  the  statistics  of  manu- 
factures is  that  of  capital.4     It  is  represented  to  be  very 

3  Comparative  statement  of  the  growth  of  manufactures  (taken 
from  the  Abstract  of  the  Eleventh  Census): 

Number   of   establishments               1880.  1890.  oflncrease. 

reporting 253,502  322,638  27.3 

Capital $2,780,766,895  $6,139,397,785  120.8 

Miscellaneous  expenses $615,337,620  .... 

Total    number  of   employees 

(average) 2,700,732  4.476,884  65.8 

Total  wages $939,462,252  $2,171,750,183  131.2 

Cost  of  materials  used 3,395,925,123  5,021,453,326  47.'.) 

Value  of  products 5,349,191,458  9,056,764,996  69.31 

4  Superintendent  Walker  of  the  Tenth  Census  explained  this  de- 
fect and  quoted  a  proposal,  made  by  himself  at  an  earlier  date,  to 
abandon  this  inquiry.     "  The  census  returns  of  capital  are  entirely 


4  The  American  Laborer 

much  less  than  the  value  of  the  annual  product — a  very- 
doubtful  proposition  if  real  estate  be  included  in  capital. 
In  the  censuses  previous  to  1890  the  value  of  the  product 
averages  about  twice  as  much  as  the  capital.  In  these  cen- 
suses it  is  known  that  some  manufacturers  counted  their 
real  property  when  they  owned  it,  while  others  omitted 
the  real  property  when  they  held  it  by  lease.  There  were 
probably  some  who  made  false  declarations  in  order  not  to 
disclose  their  real  conditions  and  expose  themselves  to 
increased  taxation.  The  rise  of  capital  in  1890  to  a  figure 
greater  than  one-half  that  of  the  product,  is  explained  by 
the  fact  that  in  the  eleventh  census  the  inquiry  concerning 
capital  was  modified.  The  amount,  however,  is  probably 
still  too  small. 

In  comparing  statistics  of  the  United  States  for  two  dif- 
ferent epochs,  or  in  comparing  them  with  the  statistics 
of  France  or  England,  two  considerations  should  be  kept 
in  mind:  (1)  that  in  1790  the  area  of  the  United  States 
was  827,844  square  miles  and  the  population  3,929,214,  in 
1850,  the  area  2,980,939  square  miles  and  the  population 
23,191,876,  while  in  1890,  the  area  (including  Alaska)  was 
3,558,009  square  miles  and  the  population  62,622,250;  (2) 
that  consequently,  in  1890,  the  statistics  apply  to  a  territory 
(Alaska  excluded)  more  than  twenty-five  times  as  large  as 
that  of  the  British  Isles  and  more  than  forty  times  that 
of  France,  and  to  a  population  which  is  from  sixty-six  to 
seventy  per  cent,  greater  than  that  of  either  of  these  states. 

With  the  preceding  reservations,  a  comparison  of  cen- 
sus statistics  may  be  made  very  instructive.  The  compari- 
son may  be  carried  back  as  far  as  1850,  bearing  in  mind 
that  the  methods  have  been  gradually  improved  and  that 
the  figures  are  less  reliable  the  further  back  we  go.  It 
should  also  be  noted  that,  when  the  census  of  1870  was 

untrustworthy  and  elusive.  The  inquiry  is  one  of  which  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  it  ought  never  to  be  embraced  in  the  sched- 
ules of  the  census."  Tenth  Census,  "  Statistics  of  Manufactures," 
p.   xxxix. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  5 

taken,  the  United  States  was  under  a  regime  of  depre- 
ciated paper  money  and  prices  were  inflated.  For  this 
reason  no  valid  comparison  of  values  can  be  made  without 
expressing-  them    in   gold. 

GENERAL  TABLE  OF  MANUFACTURES. 

Number  Average  number       Total 

Tear.                              of                      Capital.  of  employees  value  of 

establishments.  per  year.  products. 

(00O,O00's  COCO's               (000.000's 

omitted.)  omitted.)  omitted.) 

1850' 123,025  $  533  957  §1,019 

1860 140,433  1,009  1,311  1,885 

1870  2 4,233 

1870  3 252,148  1,694  2,054  3,385 

1880 253,852  2,790  2,732  5,369 

1890* 355,415  6,525  4,712  9,372 

1  From  1850  to  1870  only  those  establishments  were  enumerated  whose 
production  exceeded  $500.  -  Currency  values.  3  Gold  values. 

4  In  1890  the  value  of  products  included  receipts  from  repairing. 
Capital  and  employees  were  tabulated  according  to  a  classification  dif- 
ferent from  that  employed  in  the  preceding  censuses. 

From  this  table,  several  numerical  conclusions  concern- 
ing the  development  of  manufactures  may  be  drawn:  (i) 
The  number  of  establishments  seems  to  have  tripled  since 
1850,  and  to  have  increased  about  40  per  cent,  from  1880 
to  1890.  In  reality  the  increase  has  not  been  so  great, 
because  the  enumeration  has  become  more  complete.  (2) 
Since  1850  the  value  of  the  products  is  shown  to  have  in- 
creased about  ninefold,  and  the  rate  of  increase  per  decade 
has  varied  from  fifty-eight  to  eighty-five  per  cent,  (3) 
The  number  of  employees  has  increased  fivefold  since  1850, 
the  increase  per  decade  varying  from  thirty-three  to  sev- 
enty-two per  cent.  (4)  The  difference  between  the  in- 
crease of  the  product  and  that  of  the  employees  seems  to 
indicate  that  the  average  productivity  of  the  laborer  has 
increased.  The  comparative  statement  quoted  on  page  19 
confirms  these  conclusions,  although  the  latter  have  little 
numerical  value.  They  cannot  be  considered  to  represent 
actual  relations  with  any  exactitude,  because  of  the  inaccu- 


6  The  American  Laborer 

racy  of  the  returns,  but  they  indicate  a  real  tendency.5  In 
his  Industrial  Evolution  of  the  United  States,"  page  187,  Col. 
Wright  justly  observes  that  although  the  limitations  of 
such  inferences  are  very  great,  a  comparison  of  the  aggre- 
gate manufactured  product  in  1790 — vaguely  estimated  at 
$20,000,000 — with  its  value  a  century  later — about  $9,372,- 
000,000 — furnishes  irrefutable  proof  of  a  marvellous  in- 
dustrial development. 

To  give  an  adequate  account  of  this  development  it  is 
necessary  to  examine  each  branch  of  industry  separately. 
I  shall  make  a  brief  examination  of  the  more  important 
industries,  borrowing  the  statistics  from  various,  but  al- 
ways from  the  most  authoritative,  sources.  The  practical 
unanimity  of  the  results  will  strengthen  the  general  notion 
of  progress  derived  from  the  census  statistics. 

Extractive  Industries. 

Fuels. — Excluding  agriculture,  the  most  important 
group  of  this  class  is  undoubtedly  that  of  mineral  indus- 
tries, since  with  agriculture,  hunting  and  fishing,  it  fur- 
nishes the  materials  for  all  other  industries. 


5  The  census  of  1890  was  more  complete  in  some  parts  than  that 
of  1880.  See  Compendium  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  pt.  ii,  p.  704.  In 
the  decade  1880-1890,  for  instance,  the  number  of  masons  is  repre- 
sented as  having  increased  from  16,020  to  119,429,  the  number  of 
carpenters  from  54,138  to  140,120.  In  these  instances,  the  increase 
is  plainly  exaggerated.  Col.  Wright,  who  did  not  take  charge  of 
the  census  until  after  the  material  had  been  gathered,  thinks  the 
increase  is  due  to  an  improved  enumeration  in  the  cities  and  a 
special  enumeration  of  the  hand  trades.  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
revert,  in  the  chapter  on  wages,  to  the  estimates  given  in  the  re- 
ports of  the  eleventh  census.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general 
truth,  that  a  census  of  wealth  is  more  difficult  to  take  than  a  cen- 
sus of  the  population,  and  is  exposed  to  greater  errors.  Notwith- 
standing these  facts  the  United  States  undertakes  the  former  task 
at  each  decennial  census,  and  furnishes  thereby  a  store  of  infor- 
mation that  is  not  accessible  in  any  other  country — precious  ma- 
terial for  economic  study  when  it  is  used  with  discretion. 

"  A  clear  and  adequate  resume  of  the  progress  of  industry  and 
the  conditions  of  labor  in  the  United  States.  It  is  to  be  recom- 
mended on  account  of  the  author's  profound  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  7 

The  United  States  has  been  very  liberally  endowed  by 
nature  with  the  industrial  minerals,  although  through 
ignorance  or  lack  of  transportation  facilities,  they  remained 
undeveloped  for  a  long  time.  From  1830  to  1850,  the  pro- 
duction of  coal  increased  from  1,300,000  to  57,000,000 
tons.  This  was  but  a  beginning;7  the  rapid  development 
of  this  industry  has  taken  place  since  the  Civil  War.  In 
addition  to  the  anthracite  fields  of  Pennsylvania  and  New 
England,8  the  following  fields  have  been  discovered:  the 
Pacific  coast  field,  the  Rocky  Mountain,  the  Illinois  or 
Central  and  the  Michigan  or  Northern  fields,  the  Triassic 
field  of  North  Carolina,  the  western  field  which  occupies 
a  part  of  Missouri  and  the  neighboring  states,  and  the 
bituminous  field  of  the  Appalachians,  underlying  almost 
half  of  the  surface  of  this  great  mountain  chain  for  a  length 
of  more  than  900  miles.  The  probable  area  of  coal-bear- 
ing lands  is  roughly  estimated  by  the  statisticians  at  200,- 
000  square  miles.9  At  the  Centennial  Exposition  in  1876, 
the  United  States  displayed  to  the  world  for  the  first  time, 
its  superior  resources  in  this  line  of  production.     The  an- 

7  Anthracite  has  been  mined  in  Pennsylvania  since  1820.  at  which 
date  the  Lehigh  Coal  and  Navigation  Company  began  operations 
at  Summit  Hill,  although  only  since  1840  has  it  assumed  any  im- 
portance. In  1833,  when  M.  Michel  Chevalier  was  in  America, 
anthracite  was  in  demand  for  household  purposes,  but  had  scarcely 
begun  to  be  employed  in  steam  engines.  See  Mineral  Resources  of 
the  United  States,  1883.  pp.  11  and  13. 

8  The  New  England  beds  are  graphite. 

9  ESTIMATES    PER    FIELD    FOR    1898. 

Area.  Product. 

Anthracite.  So.,  miles.  Short  tons. 

New  England '     500                       

Pennsylvania 480  53,382,644 

Bituminous. 

Virginia  and  North  Carolina 2,880  38,938 

Appalachian 62,690  114,239,156 

Michigan 6,700  315,722 

Central 47,750  25,816,874 

Western 98,500  13,988,436 

Rocky  Mountain 10,042,759 

Pacific  Coast 2,103,043 

Totalproduct  including  colliery  consump- 
tion    219,974,667 


8 


The  American  Laborer 


nual  production  was  then  about  50,000,000  tons:   in   1899 
it  amounted  to  nearly  260,000,000.™ 

Adding  to  the  coal  production  the  production  of  petro- 
leum, which  has  given  rise  to  so  much  speculation  since 
1859,"  and  that  of  natural  gas,  which  is  employed  for  manu- 
facturing purposes,12  particularly  around  Pittsburg,  it  is 
found  that  the  annual  production  of  fuels  exceeds  in  value 
$230,000,000. 


10  Mineral  Resources,  1898,  p.  315.  These  results  are  expressed  in 
short  tons  of  2000  lbs. 

The  following  table  shows  the  progress  by  decades  (long  tons 
of  2240  lbs.): 

Bituminous.  Anthracite. 

Years.  (000,000's  omitted.)  (000,000's  omitted.) 

L830 1.1  0.2 

1840 2.1  1.0 

1850 1.8  3.9 

1860 5.2  9.9 

1870 17.6  15.6 

1880    41.8  28.6 

L890 99.4  41.5 

1893 114.6  48.2 

1898 148.7  47.6 

11  The  Indians  were  acquainted  with  petroleum,  but  it  was  not 
until  after  James  Young  discovered  how  to  extract  paraffine  from 
it,  and  the  Colonel  Drake  well  was  drilled  (in  1859),  that  the  pro- 
duction of  petroleum  assumed  a  commercial  importance.  In  1880 
there  were  86  refineries  whose  total  production  was  valued  at 
$43,000,000.  In  1889  there  were  94  refineries  with  a  product  worth 
about  $85,000,000.  The  growth  of  the  production  is  shown  in  the 
following  table: 

Years.  Barrels. 

ls,,° 500,000 

ls;" 5,260,745 

1  ss() 26,286,123 

1890 45,822,672 

1 89S 48,412,666 

1898 55,364,233 

"The  natural  gas  consumed  in  1898  was  valued  at  $15,296,813, 
and  the  petroleum  at  $44,193,359.  The  production  of  natural  gas 
is  probably  decreasing  in  quantity,  but  the  value  of  the  produc- 
tion is  increasing  ($13,826,422  in  1897.  $15,296,813  in  1898).  Petro- 
leum exhibited  a  similar  tendency  in  1897-98;  the  quantity  de- 
creased from  60.4  to  55.3  million  barrels,  while  the  value  of  the 
production  increased  from  $40,874,072  to  $44,193,359.     [Tr.] 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  9 

The  production  of  coke  in  the  United  States  has  nearly 
quadrupled  in  the  last  seventeen  years,  rising  from  3,338,- 
300  (short)  tons  in  1880  to  16,047,209  tons  in  1898.  In 
the  same  interval  the  number  of  ovens  rose  from  12,372  to 
48,447.  Of  the  latter  number,  27,157  were  situated  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  their  output  constituted  two-thirds  of 
the  total  production  in  1898  (10,715,302  tons). 

West  Virginia  came  second  (twelve  per  cent,  of  the  total 
output  in  1898).  The  production  in  1898  was  the  greatest 
ever  recorded  in  the  United  States,  both  in  quantity  and 
value.     The  average  price  was  lower  than  in  1897  or  1896. 

Nonmctallic  minerals  in  general. — After  the  fuels,  struc- 
tural materials  are  the  most  important,  although  in  the 
United  States  more  houses  are  built  of  wood  than  of  brick, 
and  more  of  brick  than  of  stone.  The  value  of  the  build- 
ing stones  quarried  in  Ohio,  Maine,  Pennsylvania,  Massa- 
chusetts and  other  states  was  estimated  in  1898  at  $38,441,- 
354  (about  $10,000,000  less  than  in  1892);  clay  products  at 
$71,597,380;  cement  at  $9,859,501;  brick  clay  at  $9,000,000; 
salt  at  6,212,554;  phosphate  rock  at  $3,453,460.  The  total 
value  (spot  values  at  points  of  production)  of  the  non- 
metallic  mineral  products  was  $353,419,765  in  1898.  In 
1880  it  was  estimated  at  $173,279,135. 

Total  z'alue  of  metallic  products.. — The  value  of  the  me- 
tallic products  in  1898  was  $343,400,955.  In  this  total, 
$116,557,000  represented  pig  iron;  $70,384,485,  silver;13 
$64,463,000,  gold;  $61,865,276,  copper;  $16,650,000,  lead; 
$10,385,910,  zinc;  $1,188,627,  quicksilver;  $1,716,000  alum- 
inum. In  other  words,  there  is  not  a  single  useful  metal 
or  mineral  which  the  United  States  cannot  produce  from 
its  own  soil.  From  1880  to  1892  the  value  of  metallic  pro- 
ducts increased  about  sixty  per  cent.  The  crisis  of  1893 
checked  production  and  lowered  prices  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  total  value  of  minerals  and  metals,  which  in  1892 

13  Silver  is  estimated  at  its  coining  value,  i.  e.,  16  to  1.     Its  mark- 
et value  is  more  than  fifty  per  cent.  less. 


10  The  American  Laborer 

was  $648,616,954,  fell  to  $527,144,381  in  1894.  The 
growth  of  the  metallic  and  nonmetallic  mineral  indus- 
tries, and  the  temporary  depression  due  to  the  crisis  of 
1893,  is  shown  in  the  appended  table.14 

Precious  metals. — A  little  gold  was  mined  in  the  South 
in  the  first  part  of  the  century,  but  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses the  production  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  United 
States  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin.  It  was  the  dis- 
covery of  the  California  placers  in  1848  that  made  the 
United  States  an  important  factor  in  the  gold  supply,  and 
the  discovery  of  the  Nevada  mines  in  1859  made  it  a  no 
less  important  factor  in  the  production  of  silver.  From  1834 
to  1848  the  total  production  of  gold  was  only  $10,536,769. 
In  the  ten  years  1850-1859  it  amounted  to  $555,000,000,  an 
average  annual  production  of  $55,500,000.  After  1859  the 
production  diminished,  reaching  a  minimum,  $30,000,000, 
in  1883,  but  since  then  it  has  gradually  increased.  Omit- 
ting the  three  years  1852- 1854,  the  production  of  1897, 
$57,363,000,  was  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  United 
States.  The  production  of  silver  gradually  increased 
from  $50,000  in  1857  to  $82,101,000  in  1892.  Since  that 
year  it  has  shown  a  tendency  to  diminish,  the  product  of 

14  The  figures  given  in  the  World  Almanac  are  larger  than  the 
following  official  figures  given  in  the  annual  publication:  Mineral 
Resources  of  the  United  States: 

PRODUCTION    OF    MINERALS. 

Tear?.  Nonmetallic  Metallic  Total, 

products.  products. 

1880 SITS, 279,135  $190,039,865  $369,319,0001 

1890    312,770,491  305,735,670  619,506,1612 

1891    321,750,171  300,232,798  622,988,9692 

1892   339,900,715  307,716,239  648,616,9542 

1898   323,219,941  249,981,866  574,201,8072 

1894   308,486,774  218,168,788  527,665,5622 

1 895    339,715,046  281,913,639  622,62S,6852 

1896   335,139,820  287,596,906  623.736,7262 

1891      329,113,845  302,198,502  632,312,3472 

1898 353,419,705  343,400,955  697,820,7202 

1  From  Eleventh  '      nts;  16,000,000  added  for  unspecified  products. 
-From    the    Statistical    Abstract;    $1,000,000    added    for    unspecified 
products. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  11 

1898  being   estimated   at  $70,384,485,   coining  value,   and 
$32,118,420,  commercial  value.15 

Base  metals  other  than  iron. — Copper  ore  is  very  abun- 
dant about  Lake  Superior,  particularly  in  the  peninsula  of 
Keweenaw,  and  it  contains  a  larger  proportion  of  copper 
than  most  of  the  European  ores.  The  metal  was  known 
to  the  Indians  and  had  been  worked  by  them,  with  their 
tools  of  chipped  flint,  before  the  arrival  of  European  set- 
tlers. About  1845  tne  Americans  took  up  the  work  with 
modern  machinery,  and  by  1870  were  extracting  from  the 
Lake  mines  about  11,000  tons  per  annum,  almost  the  whole 
amount  produced  in  America  at  that  time  (12,600  tons).16 
Towards  1880  the  Butte  district  in  Montana  began  to 
attract  miners.  Ten  years  later  it  was  yielding  more  than 
50,000  tons  a  year,17  and  the  product  of  1890  was  nearly 
doubled  in  1898.  The  United  States,  with  a  production  of 
235,050  tons  in  1898,  now  holds  first  rank  among  the  cop- 
per-producing    countries     of     the     world.     According    to 


15  Tl- 

le  production  of  the  precious  metals 

in   every  fifth  year,  ac- 

cording  to  the  Report  of  the  Director  of  the  1 

Mint,  is  as  f 

Silver. 

ollows: 

Years. 

California. 

Other  States 

Total. 

Gold  and 

and 

Coining 

silver. 

Territories. 

value. 

1845.. 

$1,008,327 

$1,008,327 

$50,000 

$1,058,327 

1850.. 

50,000,000 

50,000,000 

50,000 

50,050,000 

1855. . 

55,000,000 

55,000,000 

50,000 

55,050,000 

1860. . 

45,000,000 

1,000,000 

46,000,000 

150,000 

46,150,000 

1865.. 

28,500,000 

24,725,000 

53,225,000 

11,250,000 

64,475,000 

1870. . 

25,000,000 

25,000,000 

50,000,000 

16,000,000 

66,000,000 

1875. . 

17,617,000 

15,783,000 

33,400,000 

31,700,000 

65,100,000 

1880. . 

17,500,000 

18,500,000 

36,000,000 

39,200,000 

75,200,000 

1885 . . 

12,700,000 

19,100,000 

31,800,000 

51,600,000 

83,400,000 

1890.. 

12,500,090 

20,345,000 

32,845,000 

70,485,714 

103,330,714 

1895.. 

14,928,600 

31,681,400 

46,610,000 

72,051,000 

118,661,000 

1898.  . 

15,637,900 

48,825,100 

64,463,000 

70,384,485 

134,847,485 

16  In  1897  the  Lake  Superior  mines  yielded  66.291  tons,  but  this 
was  only  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  total  production. 

17  "  To-day  the  greatest  mining  camp  in  the  world,"  Mineral  Re- 
sources, 1891.  The  Montana  production  fell  off,  however,  in  1898. 
The  interesting  feature  of  the  copper  production  at  present,  is  the 
rapid  increase  in  the  Arizona  output.  In  1883  Arizona  produced 
23,874.963  pounds;  in  1893,  43,902,824  pounds;  in  1898.  111,158.246 
pounds.     [Tr.] 


12  The  American  Laborer 

Mineral  Resources  for  1898,  the  world's  production  was 
432,905  long  tons  in  1898,  of  which  the  United  States  pro- 
duced 235,050.  La  Statistique  de  Vlndusirie  Minerale,  pub- 
lished by  the  French  office  of  public  works,  estimated  the 
world's  production  at  458,000,000  kilograms,  of  which  the 
United  States  contributed  292,000,000.  The  world's  pro- 
duction in  1870  was  estimated  at  94,000,000  kilograms,  of 
which  only  12,200,000  were  credited  to  the  United  States.18 

Lead  mining  is  not  conducted  on  so  large  a  scale,  but 
the  growth  of  the  production  is  remarkable,  the  output  in- 
creasing from  17,800  tons  in  1870  to  222,000  tons19  in 
1898.  The  production  of  zinc  increased  nearly  sixteen- 
fold  between  1873  and  1898;  7.343  tons  in  1873,  115,399 
tons  in  1898.20  The  production  of  quicksilver  increased  six- 
fold from  i860  to  1880,  and  although  it  has  fallen  off  since 
then,21  its  production  has  stimulated  silver  mining.  Man- 
ganese, tin,  aluminum,  nickel,  chrome,  antimony  and 
platinum  are  also  produced,  but  in  small  quantities. 
Scarcely  a  single  industrial  mineral  or  metal  is  unrepre- 
sented in  the  catalogue  of  the  natural  wealth  of  this  great 
country,  and  in  the  production  of  several,  the  United 
States  holds  first  (V,  g.  in  petroleum,  copper,  etc.)  or  second 
(in  coal,  etc.)  rank. 

Iron  ore. — Iron  ore  is  very  abundant,  being  found  in 
almost  every  state.     The  most  celebrated  mines  are  those 


18  The  increase  in  production  has  lowered  prices  considerably, 
but  the  price  of  copper  exhibits  an  unusual  amount  of  instability. 
In  January,  1880,  Lake  Superior  copper  sold  for  25  cents  a  pound 
in  the  New  York  market.  In  July,  1S86,  it  fell  to  10  cents,  rose 
to  17  cents  in  1888,  and  then  steadily  declined  until  it  reached  9 
cents  in  1894.  Since  that  year  the  price  has  slowly  risen,  reaching 
17  cents  in   May,   1900. 

19  Short  tons  unless  otherwise  stated.  The  world's  production  of 
lead,  according  to  Mineral  Resources  tor  1898,  p.  246.  was  781.694 
metric  tons,  of  which  201.452.  the  largest  amount  produced  by  any 
one  country,  came  from  the  United  States. 

'  So,268  long  tons  produced  (by  Illinois,  Kansas  and   Missouri) 
in   1897,  out  of  a  world's  production  of  437.263  tons. 

21  60.000  flasks  in  1880.  31.092  in  1898.  This  is  about  one-fourth 
of  the  total  production  of  the  civilized  world. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  13 

of  Lake  Superior,  which  were  known  to  the  Indians  before 
the  arrival  of  the  Europeans. 

In  1845  an  Indian  chief  led  a  Frenchman  to  Iron  Moun- 
tain (the  red  hematite  of  the  Marquette,  Gogebic  and 
Menominee  Ranges),  not  far  from  Marquette."  This  was 
probably  the  beginning  of  the  Lake  Superior  iron  industry, 
although  there  was  no  systematic  prosecution  of  it  until 
after  a  road,  a  tramway  and  finally  (1857)  a  railroad  had 
been  built.  The  Lake  region  produced  almost  14,000,000 
(long)  tons  in  1898.  The  ore  is  easily  reduced,  of  superior 
quality  and  some  of  the  Wisconsin  ores  contain  more 
than  sixty-four  per  cent,  of  iron.  Michigan  is  first 
in  the  production  of  iron  ore,  followed  by  Minnesota,  Ala- 
bama, Pennsylvania  and  Tennessee,  in  the  order  named. 
The  United  States  do  not  produce  all  they  consume,  how- 
ever; from  500,000  to  1,000,000  tons  are  imported  an- 
nually.23 

Iron  and  steel  industries. — There  was  no  active  develop- 
ment of  the  iron  manufacture  in  the  American  colonies, 
until  after  they  had  been  delivered  from  the  industrial 
servitude  of  the  colonial  era,  and  necessity  had  made  them 
industrially  self-supporting.2* 

22  The  discovery  of  the  Marquette  Range  is  attributed  to  Dr. 
Houghton  by  the  Geological  Survey.  "  When  Michigan  became 
a  State  in  1837  and  Dr.  Houghton  was  appointed  State  geologist, 
the  systematic  exploration  of  the  Upper  Peninsula  was  begun. 
On  the  failure  of  the  State  to  raise  enough  money  to  carry  on  the 
work  in  detail,  he  persuaded  the  authorities  at  Washington  to  com- 
bine a  geological  survey  with  that  of  the  township  and  subdivision 
lines;  and  it  was  a  result  of  this  work  that  iron  ore  was  first 
discovered  in  1844."  Mr.  J.  E.  Jopling,  M.  E.,  in  the  Nineteenth 
Annual  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey,  pt.  vi,  p.  56.     [Tr.] 

23  The  total  production  in  the  United  States  was  19,433,716  (long) 
tons  in  1898.  This  is  the  largest  amount  ever  produced  in  any 
country.  Since  1896  the  imports  of  iron  ore  have  fallen  off  from 
682,806  to  187,208  (long)  tons.     [Tr.] 

24  There  were,  however,  some  establishments  of  modest  import- 
ance during  the  colonial  period.  Iron  ore  was  discovered  by  Ra- 
leigh's first  expedition  in  1585,  and  in  1608  a  small  quantity  was 
exported  from  Virginia.     In  1619,  150  laborers  were  brought  from 

3 


14  The  American  Laborer 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Pennsyl- 
vania already  held  first  rank  in  the  manufacture  of  iron. 
She  possessed  at  that  time  "  probably  sixty  blast  furnaces 
and  forges  and  several  slitting  mills  and  steel  works."  The 
furnaces  of  Cornwall  and  Warwick  were  32  feet  high  and 
heated  entirely  by  charcoal.20  They  each  made  from  25 
to  30  tons  per  week,  which  was  regarded  as  a  great  feat  in 
those  days.  The  discovery'  by  Hayden  in  1789  (or  per- 
haps earlier)  of  the  mines  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  opened 
up  a  vaster  field  for  development. 

The  production  grew  rapidly  after  the  war.  Furnaces, 
forges,  rolling  mills  and  steel  works  sprang  up  in  the  Juni- 
ata valley  and  that  of  the  Appalachians.  After  one  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  in  1792,  the  first  foundry  was  established  at 
Pittsburg  in  1803-5.  In  1810,  out  of  the  50,000  tons  of 
pig  iron  produced  in  the  United  States,  Pennsylvania  pro- 
duced  27,000.     In    1 83 1,   Pittsburg  had   two    steel    works. 


England  and  "  an  iron  work  "  was  established  at  Falling  Creek,  a 
branch  of  the  James  River;  but  the  Indians  massacred  the  work- 
men and  burned  the  works.  In  1635  a  blast  furnace,  which  re- 
mained in  operation  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was 
built  at  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island.  In  1644  a  foundry  was  estab- 
lished at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  and  in  1648,  a  furnace  and  a  forge, 
at  Braintree,  largely  through  the  exertions  of  John  Winthrop, 
Jr.  The  Lynn  furnace  ceased  operation  in  1680  on  account  of  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  fuel. 

During  the  eighteenth  century  the  iron  manufacture  was  also  of 
some  importance  in  New  York,  New  Jersey.  Maryland  and  Penn- 
sylvania. In  Pennsylvania  iron  is  first  recorded  to  have  been  made 
in  1792,  and  it  is  certain  that  a  forge  was  in  existence  in  1728.  The 
huge  steel  chain  of  186  tons,  with  which  the  Americans  blockaded 
the  Hudson  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  manufactured  by 
the  Sterling  forge  in  New  York,  from  ore  mined  in  the  vicinity. 
In  Connecticut  and  other  places  steel  was  manufactured.  The 
three  blast  furnaces  of  Pennsylvania  were  operated  by  English. 
Irish  and  a  few  German  workmen  who  had  slaves  under  them  as 
laborers.  Pig  iron  sold  at  the  furnaces  for  £3  6s.  per  ton,  and  bar 
iron  at  £20  per  ton  on  six  months'  credit.  For  the  origin  and  de- 
velopment of  the  iron  manufacture  in  each  of  the  States,  see  Iron 
in  All  Ages,  by  Jas.  M.  Swank,  1892. 

24  400  bushels  of  charcoal  were  required  to  produce  a  ton  of 
hammered  bar  iron. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  15 

Until  1840,  all  the  pig  iron  was  made  with  charcoal. 
After  many  unsuccessful  attempts  between  181 5  and  1840, 
David  Thomas  succeeded  in  running  a  blast  furnace  with 
anthracite,  and  from  the  latter  year,  the  use  of  this  fuel 
made  rapid  headway  in  the  manufacture  of  iron.  Five 
years  later  coke  began  to  be  substituted  for  charcoal, 
although  it  was  not  until  after  1850  that  the  process  of 
smelting  with  coke  and  bituminous  coal  became  general. 
Since  that  year  there  has  been  an  interesting  contest  be- 
tween these  fuels;  anthracite  coal  taking  first  place  in 
1855,  only  to  yield  it  to  bituminous,  which  is  cheaper,  in 
1875.  The  production  of  pig  iron,  classified  according  to 
the  kind  of  fuel  used  in  smelting,  is  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing table: 

Years.  Anthracite.  Charcoal.  Bituminous.  Total. 

Short  tons.  Short  tons.         Short  tons.  Short  tons. 

1840 321,000 

1850 632,000 

1854   339,435  342,298  54,485  736,218 

1855   381,866  339,922  62,390  784,178 

1860   519,211  278,331  122,228  919,770 

1865   479,558  262,342  189,682  931,582 

1870   930,000  365,000  570,000  1,865,000 

1875   908,046  410,990  947,545  2,266,581 

1880    1,807,651  537,558  1,950,205  4,295,414 

1885 1,454,390  399,844  2,675,635  4,529,869 

1890    2,448,781  703,522  7,154,725  10,307,028 

1895   1,397,989'  247,895*  8,7.45,075"  10,390,9394 

1898  1,323,600  326,425  11,301,302  12,951,327 

1899 14,892,773^ 

'Anthracite  plus  anthracite  and  coke. 

2  From  Mineral  Resources,  1898,  p.  76. 

3  Bituminous,  chiefly  coke. 

4  Statistics  for  1895  and  1898  from  Mineral  Resources,  1898,  p.  76. 
Statistics  for  1899  from  the  Statistical  Abstract,  p.  357.  The  remaining 
figures  are  from  Swank's  Iron  in  All  Ages,  p.  376. 

The  number  of  blast  furnaces  in  the  United  States,  ac- 
cording to  the  census  of  1890,  was  400  (490  in  1880),  of 
which  73  were  idle  and  24  in  course  of  construction;  the 
number  of  rolling  mills  and  steel  works  was  440  (397  in 
1880),  of  which  45  were  idle  or  unfinished;  the  number  of 


16  The  American  Laborer 

forges  and  bloomeries  was  32  (118  in  1880)  of  which  12 
were  idle.20 

In  the  census  of  1890  a  comparison  with  preceding  cen- 
suses was  instituted  which  yielded  the  following  results: 
between  1870  and  1890,  the  capital  invested  in  the  iron 
and  steel  industries  (though  the  figures  are  scarcely  com- 
parable) increased  from  $121,000,000  to  $414,000,000  (242 
per  cent.);  the  number  of  establishments  diminished  from 
808  to  719  (eleven  per  cent);  the  number  of  employees  and 
the  total  amount  of  wages  each  more  than  doubled;  and 
the  aggregate  quantity  produced  increased  fivefold  (from 
3,600,000  to  18,200,000  tons),  while  on  account  of  the  fall 
in  prices,  the  value  of  the  production  increased  only 
from  $207,000,000  (about  $166,000,000  in  gold)  to  $478,- 
000,000. 

In  short,  it  may  be  asserted  that  the  production  of  pig 
iron  has  doubled  almost  every  tenth  year  between  1840  and 
1890,  being  thirty-one  times  as  great  in  the  latter  as  in  the 
former  year.  For  a  score  of  years  the  United  States  held 
second  rank  among  the  countries  producing  pig  iron,  far 
behind  the  United  Kingdom  and  but  slightly  in  advance 
of  Germany  and  France.  By  1893  she  had  passed  the 
United  Kingdom  and  was  contributing  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  the  total  production  of  the  civilized  world.27 

8  See  Eleventh  Census,  "  Iron  and  Steel  Manufactures,"  pp.  387 
and  394.  In  1880,  483  establishments  with  681  completed  furnaces 
had  a  daily  capacity  of  19,248  tons  of  pig  iron.  In  1890,  there  were 
2,77  establishments  with  559  completed  furnaces  and  a  daily  capacity 
of  42,436  tons. 

27  The  world's  production  of  pig  iron  (omitting  India,  China  and 
Malaysia)  follows.  The  figures  for  1870  are  from  M.  Juraschek, 
those  for  1893  from  the  Statistiquc  de  V Industrie  Minerale,  and  those 
for  1898  from  Mineral  Resources,  "  Metallic  Products."  p.  101.  The 
production  of  the  United  States  in  1898  was  the  largest  ever  re- 
ported by  any  country.  The  results  are  given  in  thousands  of 
long  tons,  metric  tons  being  assumed  to  be  equivalent  to  the  Eng- 
lish ton  of  2240  lbs.  1870.  1S93.  1S9S. 

United  States 1,693  7,238  11,774 

Great  Britain 6,059  7,089  8,631 

Germany 1,301  4,400  7,238 

France 1,178  2,003  2,534 

Other  countries   1,774  6,092  5,484 

Total 12,095  27,722  35,656 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  17 

To  produce  such  a  rapid  development  there  must  be  a 
combination  of  four  elements:  the  fuel,  the  mineral,  a 
spirit  of  enterprise  and  a  demand  for  the  product.  The 
first  two  have  been  supplied  by  nature,  the  American 
character  has  furnished  the  third,  the  presence  of  the 
fourth  is  due  to  the  multiplication  of  railroads  and  the 
growth  of  consumption,  productive  and  unproductive. 
The  enterprise  of  the  American  people  is  indisputable. 
It  manifests  itself  in  the  multitude  of  inventions  which  ap- 
pear, in  the  boldness  with  which  capital  is  invested  and 
risks  taken.  The  intensity  of  consumption  is  a  result  of 
the  industrial  activity,  the  size  of  the  population,  and  the 
high  wages  which  have  accustomed  the  people  to  a  gener- 
ous style  of  living. 

There  is  no  reason  to  exaggerate  the  natural  wealth  of 
the  United  States,  and  take  it  for  granted  that  nature  has 
treated  her  more  bountifully  than  any  other  country.  The 
area  of  the  United  States  is  as  large  as  three-fourths  of 
Europe  and  nearly  twenty-five  times  as  large  as  the  British 
Isles,  but  the  latter  still  produce  more  coal  and  almost  as 
much  pig  iron  as  the  United  States.28 

The  growth  of  the  steel  manufacture  is  more  remarkable 
still,  The  inventions  of  Bessemer,  Siemens  and  Martin 
have  caused  a  revolution  in  America  as  well  as  in  Europe, 
but  on  a  vaster  scale.  The  United  States  did  not  possess 
a  single  Bessemer  converter  until  1864  nor  a  Siemens-Mar- 


9S  1868.  18T8.  188R.  1S98. 

10  PIG  IRON.  Long  tons.  Long  tons.  Long  tons.  Long  tons. 

Great  Britain 8,631,151 

United  States 11,773,934 

COAL. 

Great  Britain 103,141,157     132,612,063     169,935,219     202,054,516 

United  States 28,258,000       51,655,000     132,731,613     196,405,953 

Preliminary  estimates  furnished  by  the  Geological  Survey  show 
that  the  coal  output  of  the  United  States  in  1899  was  greater  than 
that  of  Great  Britain.  The  excess  was  probably  not  less  than 
20,000,000  tons.     [Tr.] 


18  The  American  Laborer 

tin  furnace  until  1868,  but  since  1868  her  production  of 
steel  has  risen  from  13,627  to  8,932,857  long  tons.  The 
United  States  produced  much  less  steel  than  England  in 
1872,  but  she  produces  very  much  more  to-day.29 

For  about  a  dozen  years,  during  which  its  quantity  in- 
creased tenfold,  Bessemer  steel  almost  completely  domin- 
ated the  market.  In  1887  the  production  of  Bessemer 
exceeded  3,000,000  tons,  but  since  then  the  advance  has  not 
been  so  rapid.30  Open-hearth  steel,  however,  gained  ground 
rapidly — advancing  from  3,000  tons  in  1872  to  2,230,292 
in  1898.  In  the  manufacture  of  railway-rails,  the  principal 
outlet  for  Bessemer  steel,  more  than  1,000,000  tons  of  steel 
have  been  employed  in  each  year  since  1880.  The  use  of 
iron  for  this  purpose  has  steadily  declined.31  Iron  and 
steel  are  also  used  for  many  other  purposes,  particularly 
for  the  manufacture  of  structural  materials,  nails  and 
screws;  their  uses  grow  as  they  become  cheaper.  In 
1880,  5,056,600  kegs  of  nails  were  produced,  all  of  iron. 
In  1890,  there  were  manufactured  2,130,086  kegs  of  iron, 
2,893,316  kegs  of  steel,  and  2,893,316  kegs  of  wire,  nails. 

29  Steel  is  superseding  iron  not  only  because  it  has  a  much  high- 
er resistance  and  greater  strength,  but  because  its  manufacture  in 
the  Bessemer  converter,  requires  much  less  hand  labor  than  the 
manufacture  of  iron  in  the  puddling  furnace.  In  1880.  iron  consti- 
tuted about  67^2  per  cent,  of  the  aggregate  product  of  iron  and 
steel;  in  1800,  it  constituted  only  40  per  cent.  The  steel  works 
furnished  the  rest. 

In  1872  the  world's  production  of  steel  was  estimated  at  1,000.000 
tons,  of  which  the  United  States  produced  145,000,  England  417,- 
000,  Germany  189,000,  France  130,000,  tons.  In  1898,  out  of  an 
aggregate  production  of  24,126,962  tons,  the  United  States  pro- 
duced 8,932,857,  Great  Britain  4.665,986,  Germany  5,779,570,  France 
1,473,100,  tons. 

30  From  1896  to  1898,  however,  the  production  increased  from 
3.919,906  to  6,609.017  long  tons.  The  number  of  Bessemer  con- 
verters was  24  in  1880,  97  in  1890,  100  in  April  1898.  The  number 
of  open-hearth  furnaces  was  37  in  1880,  129  in  1890,  238  in  April, 
1898.     [Tr.] 

31  In  1880,  1,217,497  tons  of  rails  were  produced,  of  which  about 
64  per  cent,  were  iron.  In  1897,  1.647,892  tons  were  produced,  of 
which  less  than  2/10  per  cent,  were  iron. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry 


19 


In  the  two  following  tables  are  shown:  (i)  the  production 
of  iron  by  States  in  1890;  (2)  the  value  of  the  products  of 
the  principal  metallurgical  industries  in  1880  and  1890, 
together  with  the  number  of  establishments  at  the  two 
epochs,  and  the  number  of  employees  in  1890. 

GENERAL    RESULTS    OF    THE    CENSUS    OF    1890    FOR  THE  PRINCIPAL  STATES 
PRODUCING    IRON. 

(Report  on  Manufacturing  Industries,  page  470  and  following .) 


Pennsylvania. . 

Ohio 

Alabama 

Illinois 

New  York  .... 

Virginia 

Tennessee  .... 

Michigan 

Wisconsin 
Massachusetts1 
New  Jersey1. . . 
West  Virginia1 


Totals. 


a 
o 

a  as 

0 

0° 

bJ3. 

<s— , 

boa 

ao 

0  a 

•3  <a 

£8 

•0 

0 

<3  3 

to 

<s 

—' 

E-i 

202 

4,867 

75,212 

18,511 

1,347 

19,800 

59 

5.098 

915 

10,315 

47 

4,162 

746 

10,136 

14 

2,722 

344 

5,182 

26 

1,689 

312 

3,925 

23 

1,124 

295 

3,366 

17 

1,094 

227 

3,982 

19 

924 

215 

3,114 

9 

812 

9,906 

145,612 

473 

39,411 

t.— I - 
,  a   5  fcj;2  a 

0!  41  I  01  o  £ 
O**      3  O  -r-  — 


91 
86 

88 

191 

49 
47 

48 


188.7 

45.4 

2.2 

28.8 

10.3 

2.4 

0.9 

1.8 


10.9 
8.7 


Principal  products 
(thousands  of  tons.) 


1,705 

571 

50 

156 

109 

50 

20 

33 


83    331.8  3,225  4,3851590 


2,556 
502 


751 
118 


457 

53 

1 

2 

4 


87| 

30 

'220 


20 
29 


1  States   which  produce  little  pig  iron,  but  are  of  importance  in  the 
iron  and  steel  manufacture. 


There  has  been  considerable  growth  in  every  branch, 
particularly  in  that  of  architectural  and  ornamental  iron- 
work. This  is  the  only  group,  however,  in  which  the  num- 
ber of  establishments  has  increased;  in  all  the  rest  the 
number  has  decreased  on  account  of  combination.  Pro- 
duction on  a  large  scale  tends  to  predominate  in  all  classes. 
The  total  number  of  employees  in  the  five  groups  approxi- 
mated 500,000  in  1890. 


20  The  American  Laborer 

STATEMENT  OF  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  IRON  INDUSTRIES.32 

Number 
Number  ofem- 

of  ployees 

establishments,    in  1890. 

,  , " (Thou- 

1890.  1880.  1890.    sands.) 

Iron  and  steel 296.0  430.0  1,005  645  152.5 

Iron  and  steel,  bolts,  nuts,  washers, 

and  rivets 10.0  12.3  100  82  7.3 

Blacksmithing  and  wheelwrighting    62.6  54.3  38,802  28,000  50.8 

Iron  and  steel,  forgings 6.4  9.0  91  90  4.4 

Saws  and  screws 6.0  9.4  109  122  5.7 

Foundry    and    machine    shop    pro- 
ducts  214.3  412.7  4,958  6,475  247.7 

Iron  and  steel,  pipe,  wrought 13.2  37.9  35  22  12.0 

Wire  and  wirework 19.9  35.5  345  593  15.7 

Hardware 22.6  26.7  492  350  19.6 

Ironwork,  architectural  and  orna- 
mental        3.4       37.7  220  724      18.6 

Gas  stoves 2.1         24  1.0 

Agricultural  implements 68.6  81.0  1,943  910  42.5 

Steam   fittings  and  heating    appa- 
ratus        5.1  23.1  95  217  11.7 

Tools,  not  elsewhere  specified 4.2  10.5  145  462  7.0 

The  American  people  pride  themselves  upon  having  a 
larger  per  capita  consumption  of  iron  and  steel  than  any 
other  nation  in  the  world.33  One  of  their  most  competent 
authorities  on  this  subject  enumerates  the  principal  uses  to 
which  iron  and  steel  are  applied  by  the  American  people, 
and  congratulates  himself  that  in  the  production  of  many 

32  The  enumeration  is  far  from  complete.  I  have  omitted  the 
figures  for  1870,  as  the  grouping  is  evidently  different. 

This  statement  would  be  incomplete  without  some  notice  of  the 
wonderful  growth  of  the  tin-plate  industry  in  the  United  States. 
In  1890  there  was  no  tin  plate  manufactured  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  imports  amounted  to  680.060.925  pounds,  valued  at  $20,- 
928,150.  In  1898,  the  United  States  produced  681.674,028  pounds, 
and  imported  only  171,662,345  pounds,  valued  at  $3,809,148.  In 
1899  the  importation  sunk  to  108,484,826  pounds,  valued  at  $2,- 
613,564  and  the  American  production,  as  estimated  by  the  Ameri- 
can Tin  Plate  Company,  rose  to  791,371,484  pounds.     [Tr.] 

33  300  pounds  per  capita  in  1890.  England  having  a  smaller  popu- 
lation produced  more  per  capita,  but  on  account  of  her  large  ex- 
ports, consumed  only  275  pounds  per  inhabitant. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  21 

of  these  articles  the  United  States  leads  the  world.  In  his 
opinion,  their  superiority  is  manifested  in  the  artistic  finish 
as  well  as  in  the  quantity  of  the  goods  they  produce.34 

"  We  make  more  iron  stoves  for  heating  halls  and  dwell- 
ings and  for  the  purposes  of  the  kitchen  than  all  the  rest 
of  the  world,"  says  the  author.  ..."  The  heating  of 
public  and  private  buildings  with  hot-air  heaters  has  long 
been  more  popular  in  our  country  than  in  any  other  coun- 
try, but  in  late  years  steam  and  hot-water  pipes  are  rap- 
idly coming  into  use  as  rivals  of  hot-air  flues.  .  .  .  We 
probably  excel  all  nations  in  the  use  of  iron  and  steel  for 
ornamental  purposes  in  connection  with  masonry,  brick- 
work, and  wood-work.  .  .  .  The  manufacture  of  the  print- 
ing presses  of  the  country  consumes  immense  quantities 
of  iron  and  steel.  No  other  country  makes  such  free  use 
of  the  printing  press  as  this  country.  We  are  the  leading 
agricultural  country  of  the  world,  and  hence  are  the  largest 
consumers  of  agricultural  implements;  but  we  are  also  in 
advance  of  every  other  country  in  the  use  of  agricultural 
machinery,  the  best  of  which  we  have  invented. 

"  We  lead  all  nations  in  the  manufacture  of  cut  nails, 
wire  nails  and  spikes.  ...  In  the  manufacture  of  machine 
and  hand  stools  and  general  cutlery  we  are  excelled  by  no 
other  country,  and  in  the  use  of  machine  tools  we  are  in 
advance  of  every  other  country.  No  other  country  makes 
such  free  use  of  labor-saving  inventions  of  all  kinds  as  this 
country.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  not  only  in  stove-founding,  in  the  graceful  de- 
signs of  bridges  and  elevated  railways,  and  in  the  delicate 
combination  of  iron  and  steel  with  other  materials  in  the 
construction  and  ornamentation  of  buildings  that  Ameri- 
can ironworkers  have  displayed  both  taste  and  skill.  The 
fine  arts  themselves  are  being  enriched  by  our  ironwork- 
ing  countrymen."  35 

34Jas.  M.  Swank,  Iron  In  All  Ages,  chap.  lxii. 
35  Ibid.,  pp.  526-530. 


22  The  American  Laborer 

Mr.  Swank  is  a  panegyrist  and,  like  most  Americans 
when  they  come  to  speak  of  their  own  country,  an  enthusi- 
astic one,.  As  to  quantities,  he  is  quite  correct,  and  on  the 
artistic  side  it  is  also  true  that  the  Americans  have  made 
great  efforts  and  achieved  notable  progress:  they  un- 
doubtedly have  at  present  a  distinctly  American  archi- 
tecture and  style  of  ornamentation. 

Agricultural  and  food  products. — More  industries  are  en- 
gaged in  working  up  raw  agricultural  than  raw  mineral 
produce,  since  the  former  furnish  practically  the  whole 
food  supply  and  in  addition  satisfy  other  demands.  In  cer- 
tain lines,  such  as  the  milling  industry,  a  pronounced  ten- 
dency toward  combination  is  noticeable.  In  others,  the 
bakeries  for  instance,  the  number  of  small  establishments 
keeps  pace  with  the  population.  I  have  described  the  most 
important  of  the  gigantic  meat-packing  houses  in  my  study 
on  agriculture  in  the  United  States;  the  Armour  Com- 
pany with  its  force  of  11,000  employees,  killed  and  distrib- 
uted in  the  year  1892-93,  1,750,000  hogs,  1,080.000  cattle, 
and  625,000  sheep.36  The  great  packing  houses  are  located 
in  Chicago;  Minneapolis  is  the  center  of  two  other  great 
industries.  The  Pillsbury- Washburn  Company,  in  the 
latter  city,  consumed  32,000  bushels  of  wheat  a  day  in  1892, 
enough  to  provision  the  whole  city  of  Paris.37  Minneapolis 
is  also  the  center  of  the  lumber  industry  in  the  United 
States,  whose  21,000  mills  manufactured  products  worth 
$403,667,575  in  1890. 

The  growth  of  the  industries  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  agricultural  and  food  products  is  shown  in  the  table  on 
page  23  which  is  similar  to  the  table  showing  the  growth 
of  the  iron  industries. 

The  outputs  of  some  of  these  industries  have  not  grown 
in  value  like  those  of  the  iron  industries;  the  milling  and 
sugar-refining  industries,  for  instance,  have  remained  al- 
most stationary..    It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that 

3"  L 'Agriculture  awe  Etats-Uiiis,  p.  348.  37  Ibid.,  p.  348. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  23 

since  the  prices  of  their  products  have  greatly  depreciated, 
constant  values  represent  increased  quantities.  According 
to  the  statistics,  however,  the  bakery  products  have  doubled 
since  1880  and  more  than  tripled  perhaps,  since  1870.  The 
same  can  be  said  of  tobacco,  canned  goods,  liquors,  and 
dressed  lumber  which,  with  the  flour-milling  industry,  form 
the  two  most  important  industries  of  the  group.  The  total 
number  of  persons  employed  in  this  group  of  industries 
was  more  than  800,000. 


Number  of 
establishments. 

13 

Value  of  products 

(millions  of 

dollars). 

1880. 

1890. 

fc 

1880. 

1890. 

J4,338 

18,470 

63.5 

505.1 

513.9 

6,396 

10,484 

52.7 

65.8 

128.4 

109 

302 

4.1 

2.4 

14.1 

3,932 

4,712 

14.2 

25.7 

62.6 

Flouring  and  grist  mill  products. 

Bakeries 

Food  preparations 

Cheese,  butter  and  condensed  milk . 

Fruits,  fish,  oysters,  and  vegeta- 
bles, canning  and  preserving.  . .         411       1,012       59.6       17.5       40.0 

Timber  products,  not  manufact- 
ured at  mill 1,606       46.1      ....         34.2 

Lumber,    mill    and     planing    mill 

products   28,199 

Malt 216 

Oils,  vegetable  and  animal 362 

Pickles,  preserves,  and  sauces  ....         109 

Pulp,  wood 50 

Sugar  and  molasses,  refining 49 

Tobacco,  chewing  and  smoking, 
cigars  and  cigarettes,  snuff,  stem- 
ming and  rehandling 7,674 

Vinegar  and  cider 306 

Liquors,  distilled,  malt,  and  vinous     3,152 

The  building  industry. — The  building  industry  is  neces- 
sarily active  in  a  country  in  which  the  population  and  the 
number  of  farms  and  factories  is  rapidly  increasing.  Some 
idea  of  this  activity  may  be  obtained  from  the  following  sta- 
tistics  of   Boston:     In    1880,    159   brick   and   273   wooden 


24,681 

373.0 

306.6 

587.3 

202 

3.6 

18.2 

23.4 

399 

9.9 

32.6 

54.8 

316 

4.2 

2.4 

9.7 

82 

2.8 

2.2 

4.6 

393 

7.5 

155.4 

123.1 

11,643 

135.9 

118.6 

212.7 

694 

3.3 

3.4 

6.6 

1,924 

41.4 

144.2 

289.7 

24  The  American  Laborer 

houses  were  constructed  with  an  aggregate  value  of  about 
$2,000,000.  In  1892,  340  houses  of  brick  and  2,003  °f  wood 
were  constructed,  with  a  total  value  of  about  $i5,ooo,ooo.38 
Boston  is  one  of  the  older  cities  in  which  the  rate  of  in- 
crease has  been  relatively  low.  The  census  of  1880  had 
recorded  1,525  quarries  of  building  stones,  whose  aggregate 
product  was  valued  at  $18,000,000.  Eighteen  years  later 
the  total  value  of  the  building  stones  quarried  was  esti- 
mated by  the  Geological  Survey  at  more  than  $38,000,000. 
The  production  of  bricks  and  tiles  alone,  according  to  the 
census  of  1890,  represented  a  value  of  nearly  $68,000,000. 

Textile  industries. — The  spinning  and  weaving  of  wool 
were  purely  domestic  industries  during  the  colonial  period 
and  they  remained  in  practically  the  same  condition  for 
more  than  thirty  years  after  the  Revolutionary  War.3"  The 
census  of  1790  mentions  only  three  textile  factories,40  and  it 
was  not  until  1794  that  the  first  factory  with  the  new  ma- 
chinery was  established  at  Byfield,  Massachusetts.  The 
textiles  consumed  in  the  United  States  were  at  that  time 
imported  from  England,41  while  the  latter  prohibited  the 
exportation  of  the  machines  by  which  they  were  manufac- 
tured. 

38  From  the  Massachusetts  report  on  The  Subject  of  the  Unem- 
ployed, Boston,  1895,  p.  xxvii. 

39  Sheep  were  introduced  into  Virginia  in  1607;  into  New  Am- 
sterdam in  1625;  and  in  1633,  into  Massachusetts.  Accounts  show 
that  the  colonies  possessed  about  100,000  sheep  in  1661.  The  col- 
onists who  founded  Rowley  established  a  fulling-mill  in  1643  which 
was  in  operation  in  1809,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury the  governor  of  Massachusetts  mentioned  that  Rowley  held 
first  rank,  although  the  manufacture  of  wool  was  general.  {The 
Industrial  Evolution,  by  Carroll  D.  Wright,  p.  46.)  In  Virginia 
where  the  first  fulling-mill  dates  from  1692,  some  of  the  governors 
encouraged  the  industry,  while  others  opposed  it.  In  Philadel- 
phia the  first  fulling-mill  dates  from  1774. 

40  The  first  factory  was  founded  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  in  1787.  One 
establishment  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  produced  5.000  yards  of  cloth 
in   1789. 

41  These  imports  were  on  the  increase:  from  1.5  million  pounds 
sterling  in  1790  to  2.8  million  in  1799. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  25 

The  two  wars  with  England  interrupted  the  importation 
of  English  textiles  and  forced  the  Americans  to  manufac- 
ture for  themselves,42  but  upon  the  conclusion  of  the  peace 
of  Ghent,  the  ports  were  opened,  prices  fell,  and  many 
American  manufacturers  were  ruined.  Their  complaints 
led  Congress  to  insert  in  the  tariff  of  1816  a  duty  of  25  per 
cent,  upon  woolens  and  cotton  goods.  In  the  tariff  of 
1824  this  was  increased  to  33  per  cent,  and  finally,  upon 
further  protestations  **  the  rate  was  again  increased  in  the 
tariffs  of  1828  and  1832." 

The  compromise  tariff  of  March,  1833,  lowered  the  duty 
on  woolens  to  29  per  cent.,  and  the  manufacturers  saw  with 
regret  and  alarm  the  rise  of  the  importation  to  $24,500,000 
in  1836.  The  number  of  manufacturers,  however,  in- 
creased. In  1837,  1,549  establishments  were  reported,  of 
which  519  were  in  Massachusetts,  351  in  New  York,  184  in 
Connecticut,  123  in  Pennsylvania,  100  in  Vermont.  The 
"  Middlesex  Company  "  alone,  founded  in  Lowell  in  1830, 
controlled  27  mills.  A  large  number  of  these  were  closed 
by  the  painful  crisis  of  1837,  so  that  the  census  of  1840  re- 
ported only  1,420  factories.  But  the  census  does  not  fur- 
nish an  exact  measure  of  the  woolen  industry,  nor  of  the 
sentiment  which  inspired  manufacturers  with  the  fear  of 
foreign  competition.  In  the  senatorial  investigation  of 
1883  one  of  the  witnesses,  a  manufacturer  and  an  ardent 
protectionist,  said:  "This  whole  period  was  very  severe. 
Prices  fell,  satinettes  which  sold  for  ninety  cents  in  1839 
brought  only  forty  cents  in  1842,  the  Massachusetts  pro- 
ducers lost  money  and  at  the  end  of  1842  most  of  them  were 

42  The  impossibility  of  importing  machinery  stimulated  the  in- 
ventive genius  of  the  Americans  to  such  an  extent  that  237  patents 
for  textile  machinery  were  taken  out  in  1812.  About  this  time 
power-looms  began  to  be  introduced. 

43  The  increase  of  8J/3  per  cent,  did  not  satisfy  the  manufacturers 
because  it  was  accompanied  by  an  increase  of  15  per  cent,  on  the 
duty  on  wool,  and  one-third  of  the  wool  consumed  was  imported. 

44  By  removing  the  duty  from  common  wool  the  law  of  1832 
stimulated  the  manufacture  of  coarse  woolens. 


26  The  American  Laborer 

on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  Wages  were  very  low."  The 
tariff  of  1842  was  a  victory  for  the  protectionists,  and  a  duty 
of  forty  per  cent,  was  placed  upon  woolens. 

The  tariff  of  1846  reduced  the  duty  to  36  per  cent,  ad 
valorem,  and  caused  great  distress  among  the  manufac- 
turers. In  1857  tne  rate  was  again  reduced — to  24  per 
cent. — but  as  the  duty  on  wool  was  also  lowered,  the  indus- 
try prospered.  During  the  Civil  War  the  enormous  con- 
sumption of  cloth  for  uniforms,  the  scarcity  of  cotton  and 
the  general  inflation  of  prices  stimulated  both  wool-grow- 
ing *  and  the  manufacture  of  woolens,  in  which  the  profits 
came  rather  from  the  quantity  than  the  quality  of  the  out- 
put. The  census  statisticians  valued  the  woolen  products 
at  $73,000,000  in  i860  and  at  $217,000,000  ($173,000,000  in 
gold)40  in  1870,  an  increase  of  about  115  per  cent.;  they  esti- 
mated the  number  of  persons  employed  at  59,522  in  i860 
and  at  119,859  in  1870;  during  the  decade  the  consumption 
of  wool  more  than  doubled  (from  98,000,000  to  220,000,000 
pounds)  and  nominal  wages  increased  more  than  threefold 
(from  $13,000,000  to  $40,000,000).  In  1880,  which  was  re- 
garded as  a  very  prosperous  year,  the  census  returns  showed 
a  production  of  $267,000,000  worth  of  woolens,  an  increase 
of  54  per  cent,  over  the  production  of  1870.  The  census  of 
1890  records  a  production  of  346  millions,  an  increase  of 
26  per  cent,  over  1880.  The  tendency  toward  consolidation 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  number  of  establishments  has 
slightly  diminished  since  1870,  while  the  capital  invested 
has  doubled. 

The  native  wool  crop  is  almost  wholly  consumed  in  the 
woolen  manufacture,  but  wool-growing  is  developing  more 

45  In  i860  the  wool  crop  of  the  United  States  amounted  to  60 
million  pounds,  and  in  1870,  to  162  million.  In  1899  it  had  in- 
creased to  272  million. 

40  The  official  statistics  differ  among  themselves  and  there  is  a 
great  discrepancy  between  the  estimates  of  the  wool  clip  fur- 
nished by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  those  furnished  by 
the  "  National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers." 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  27 

slowly  than  other  branches  of  agriculture  on  account  of 
the  almost  constant  fall  in  the  price  of  wool.47  As  estimated 
by  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  production  was 
160,000,000  pounds  in  1867  and  300,000,000  in  1884,  a 
point  reached  by  gradual  stages  and  since  maintained  with 
but  little  variation  one  way  or  the  other.43  The  imports, 
however,  which  were  only  79,000,000  pounds  in  1884,  have 
grown  rapidly  in  the  last  few  years,  reaching  the  enormous 
figure  of  350,000,000  pounds  in  1897.  This  brought  the  total 
consumption  of  the  United  States  in  1897  up  to  600,000,000 
pounds,  the  highest  point  that  has  yet  been  attained.4"  The 
progress  that  has  been  made  may  be  gathered  from  the 
table  on  page  28. 

The  home  production  of  woolens  is  not  large  enough  to 
supply  the  demand.  The  United  States  exports  a  little, 
but  imports  a  great  deal.  From  1887  to  1892  the  value  of 
the  woolen  imports  varied  from  56.5  to  14.8  millions  of  dol- 

47  The  price  of  fine  wool  per  pound  in  Eastern  markets  was: 

60  cents in  1824  33  cents in  1800 

50     "       "1860  18      "     "1895 

48     "       "1870  28^"     "1898 

46     "       "  1880 

48  309,748,000  lbs.  in  1895,  but  only  218,410,368  in  1898,  according 
to  the  Department  of  Agriculture.     [Tr.] 

49  M.  Grandgeorge,  in  the  report  of  the  Commission  des  Valcurs  de 
Douanc  for  1894,  says  that  the  consumption  of  wool  did  not  vary 
greatly  in  the  United  States  from  1887  to  1894,  and  that  ranked 
according  to  the  consumption  of  wool,  the  United  States  must  be 
placed  after  France,  England  and  Germany. 

[Owing  chiefly  to  changes  in  the  tariff,  the  production  and  con- 
sumption of  wool  in  the  United  States  are  very  irregular.  In  the 
last  three  years  there  has  been  a  substantial  increase  in  the  pro- 
duction of  wool  and  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  United  States 
while  the  imports  and  total  consumption  have  greatly  diminished. 
Taking  a  longer  period,  however,  the  fifteen  years  1884-1898,  it 
would  seem  that  the  production  of  wool  and  number  of  sheep  are 
declining,   while   the  consumption   is   increasing. 

Average  Average  Average 

number  of  production.  consumption, 

sheep. 

1884-1888 47,502,654         292,800,000  lbs.        389,200,000 

1888-1893 44,515,601  284,600,000  417,600,000 

1894-1898 40,022,493  281,000,000  468,900,0001 


28 


The  American  Laborer 


lars,  about  one-tenth  of  the  total  consumption.     This  pro- 
portion shows  a  tendency  to  decrease.50 

STATISTICS  OF  WOOL  (FROM  THE   Wool  Book,  1895). 


u 
as 

Number  of  es- 
tablishments. 

o  Z 

so 
•£■0 

3° 

c. 

05 
U 

■5 

a 

°  §" 
u 

o 

s 

3 

i 

o 
o 

t. 

s 

3 

o  = 

o 

CSX 

O—   T, 

^5  = 
S_§ 

3  O  £. 

llo 
(J 

Value  of  materi- 
als    employed 
(millions  of 
dollars). 

o 
0 

V.   ° 

Op, 

s 

3 

S3 

o  j: 

—  o 
S-a 
^^(^ 

oo  O 

0 
U 

Value    of     pro- 
ducts (millions 
of  dollars). 

A 

o 

o 

1890 

1,420 
1,760 
1,673 
3,456 
2,689 
2,4S9' 

32.5 

42.8 

132.4 

159.1 

296.5 

4.4 

14.5 

20.6 

49.6 

80.7 

217.6 

267.2 

337.7 

0.46 

183(1 

1.13 

1840 

2,194,498 
2,255,996 
3,182,500* 

6,175 
59,261 
69,8343 

45 

71 

85 

200 

331 

385 

1.21 

1850 
1860 
1870 
1880 
1890 

29  2 

49.6 

134.1 

164.3 

203.0 

47,763 

59,522 

119,859 

161,557 

219,132 

13.3 
40.3 
47.3 

76.0 

2.14 
2.57 
5.65 
5.33 
6.30 

1  In  addition  there  were  267  idle  establishments. 

■J  Of  the  3,182,500  spindles  in  1890,  2,329,099  were  woolen  spindles, 
657,324  worsted  spindles,  and  176,077  cotton  spindles. 

3  3,076  hand  looms  remained  in  1890.  The  increase  is  almost  entirely 
in  the  broad  looms.  [In  1898  there  were  79,059  woolen  looms  in  the 
United  States,  according  to  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  Massachusetts, 
1898,  p.  260]. 

Since  the  Civil  War  the  progress  of  the  woolen  industry 
has  been  greater  in  the  United  States  than  in  any  other 
country.  They  now  supply  nine-tenths  of  the  quantity 
they  consume,  and  rank  immediately  beneath  England  and 


60  In  i860,  72  per  cent  of  the  total  consumption  ($112,000,000)  was 
of  American  manufacture.  In  1890,  the  United  States  furnished 
89  per  cent,  of  the  total  consumption  ($380,000,000).  For  the  his- 
tory of  the  woolen  industry  see  A  Century  of  American  ll'ool 
Manufacture,  1790-1890,  by  S.  N.  D.  North.  Mr.  North  has  made 
cautious  use  of  the  census  figures  prior  to  1870,  as  he  believes 
them  to  be  very  incomplete.  [The  woolen  imports  fluctuate  greatly 
from  year  to  year,  the  tariff  being  the  chief  disturbing  agent.  In 
1890,  for  instance,  the  imports  amounted  to  $56,582,432.  From  this 
point  they  rapidly  declined  to  $19,439,372  in  1894.  The  tide  then 
turned  and  in  1896,  they  had  reached  the  50  million  mark  again. 
The  preceding  process  then  began  to  repeat  itself;  only  $13,832,621 
worth  were  imported  in  1899.] 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  29 

by  the  side  of  France,  among  the  states  manufacturing 
woolen  goods." 

The  cotton  manufacture  has  the  advantage  over  the 
woolen  industry  of  securing  all  its  raw  material  in  the 
United  States,52  and  the  production  of  this  material  has  in- 
creased without  interruption,  except  during  the  Civil  War. 

The  production  of  cotton  in  the  United  States,  estimated 
at  400,000  bales  in  1821,  had  risen  to  5,198,000  in  i860. 
Paralyzed  by  the  war,  the  production  did  not  regain  this 
height  until  1878.  Since  that  year  the  record  of  i860  has 
been  far  surpassed,  the  production  of  1898 — the  maximum 
to  that  date — amounting  to  11,189,205  bales.  Since  the 
end  of  the  last  century  the  United  States  have  consumed  a 
part  of  their  crop,  but  at  that  time  the  Americans  usually 
made  their  clothes  of  skins,  or  from  flax  and  hemp;  cotton 

51  Authorities  differ  somewhat  in  their  estimates  of  the  consump- 
tion of  wool  and  consequently,  in  the  rank  they  assign  to  the  sev- 
eral  nations.     Mr.    North   estimates   the   consumption    of  wool    in 

1890  at  372  million  pounds  in  the  United  States,  470  in  England, 
and  419  in  France.  According  to  statistics  of  the  Treasury  De- 
partment published  in  1894  (Wool  and  Manufactures  of  Wool,  pp.  14 
and  21),  the  United  States  consumed  in  the  year  mentioned  425 
millions  of  pounds,  England  422  millions,  and  France  417  millions 
(the  production  of  1887  being  added  to  the  net  importation  of  1891). 
According  to  M.  Juraschek  (Uebersichten  der  Weltwirthschaft),  the 
production   in   1888-90  plus  the  excess  of  imports  over  exports  in 

1891  gives  192  millions  of  kilograms  for  England,  220  millions  for 
France,  182  millions  for  the  United  States.  [Mr.  S.  N.  D.  North 
furnishes  the  following  estimates  for  1899:  World's  production 
2,681,819,545  pounds,  of  which  Australasia  furnished  520,000,000, 
the  Argentine  Republic  370,000,000,  European  Russia  361,100.000, 
the  United  States  272,191,330,  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  138,392,215, 
France  103,610,000,  etc.] 

52  However,  it  was  from  the  Barbadoes  that  Massachusetts,  in 
1633,  received  its  first  supply  of  cotton.  For  a  long  while  cotton 
was  cultivated  as  an  ornamental  plant,  and  it  was  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  Maryland  and  in  the  lower  counties  of  Delaware  that  it 
was  first  raised  for  manufacturing  purposes.  It  was  not  until  the 
second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  the  South  took  up  the 
cultivation  of  cotton.  The  first  exportation  to  England,  sent  from 
Charleston  and  consisting  of  300  pounds,  was  made  in  1787.  It 
appeared  so  extraordinary  to  the  customs  officials  of  Liverpool 
that  they  at  first  refused  to  admit  it. 

4 


30  The  American  Laborer 

did  not  come  into  general  use  until  much  later.  The  first 
spinning  machine  was  exhibited  at  Philadelphia  in  1775.03 
The  first  mechanical  filature  was  installed  at  Beverly,  Mass., 
in  1787,  with  the  assistance  of  the  state  legislature;  but  it 
was  not  a  success.  The  factory  at  Pawtucket,  R.  I.,  which 
met  with  more  success,  was  established  in  1790."  The 
attempts  to  weave  by  machinery  date  from  181 5." 

Obliged  to  provide  for  themselves  during  the  two  wars 
with  England,  the  Americans  made  efforts  of  which  they 
were  very  proud.  "  During  this  time,"  wrote  Jefferson, 
"  we  have  manufactured  within  our  families  the  most  neces- 
sary articles  of  cloathing.  Those  of  cotton  will  bear  some 
comparison  with  the  same  kinds  of  manufacture  in 
Europe.  .  .  ."  B"  The  cotton  industry  was  greatly  stimulated 
by  Whitney's  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  in  1794. 

The  progress  of  the  cotton  manufacture  has  been  consid- 
erable, and  almost  uninterrupted.  The  factories  were  for- 
merly built  in  the  valleys,  on  cramped  and  narrow  sites,  and 
six  or  seven  stories  high.  With  the  gradual  substitution  of 
steam  as  the  principal  or  only  motive  power,  a  wider  choice 
has  been  permitted,  and  spacious,  airy  buildings  are  now 
erected  on  higher  ground.  The  perfection  of  the  machin- 
ery has  almost  done  away  with  dust,  and  the  use  of  an- 
thracite has  suppressed  the  smoke  nuisance.  Numerical 
proof  of  the  progress  of  this  industry  will  be  found  in  the 
following  table,  the  figures  of  which  are  unfortunately  not 
equally  authentic  and  trustworthy. 

58  The  spinning  jenny  was  introduced  in  Worcester,  Mass..  in 
1780. 

54  The  founder  was  an  Englishman,  Samuel  Slater,  called  by 
President  Jackson  "  the  father  of  American  industries."  In  1809 
there  were  already  87  filatures  of  cotton  with  80.000  spindles. 

55  In  181 1,  the  American  Lowell  went  to  England  to  study  the 
cotton  industry.  On  his  return,  in  1814,  he  erected  a  factory  in 
Waltham,  Mass.,  in  which  both  weaving  and  spinning  were  carried 
on  by  machinery.  The  factory  contained  1,700  spindles  and  was 
the  first  establishment  in  the  world  where  the  two  operations  were 
carried  on  under  the  same  roof.  Shortly  afterwards  other  factories 
were  built  in  Lowell,  Lawrence,  Fall  River,  etc. 

64  Notes  on  the  State  of  Virginia  (1781),  query  xix. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry 


31 


■S>M 

S£'3 

Tears. 

O  to  O. 

o«-d 

fl»a 

g|« 

Sm  M 

fca.2 

1831 

801 

1840 

1,240 

1850 

1,094 

1860 

1,091 

1870 

956 

18801 

1,005 

1890 

905 

1899 

5  C. 


1,246 
(2,284 
(3,000 
5,235 
7,132 
10,653 
14,188, 
17,937, 


703 

631) 

000) 

727 

415 

435* 

1034 

7355 


i 

a 

,  a 

0 

0 

%-t  . 

E-2C'- 

s- 

0  . 

0  g 

5o  . 

!! 

a  u 

5= 

**  > 

el- 
's is 

sg 

0  OJ 

°IJ 

g  0  « 

CD  0 

STS 

Sf*13 

0=° 

O.O 

fco 

»    QJ<M 

2g 

fe 

O 

3, 

0 

33,433 

40.6 

62,208 

(10.0) 

77.4 

51.1 

(72,119) 

(135.0) 

74.5 

92,286 

288.5 

126,313 

98.5 

122,028 

23.9 

422.7 

157,310 

140.7 

135,369 

39.0 

398.3 

225,759 

208.3 

174,659 

42.0 

750.3 

324,866 

354.0 

221,585 

69.4 

1092.43 

453,2816 

ft.  a 

(40.0) 
(44.3) 
61.8 
115.6 
177.4 
192.0 
267.9 


1  These  figures  are  from  the  Abstract  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  p.  146. 
They  do  not  appear  to  harmonize  exactly  with  those  in  the  "  Report  on 
Manufactures,"  Tenth  Census,  "Cotton  Manufactures,"  p.  15,  or, 
"  Factory  System,"  p.  9. 

2  This  column  comprehends  only  "  operatives  "  as  distinguished  from 
"  employees." 

3  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  World  Almanac.  M.  Juraschek 
gives  1,117.9  for  1890. 

4  Includes  only  spindles  in  operation :  the  total  number  of  spindles 
in  1890  was  14,550,323.  In  1890  there  were  in  operation  5,363,486  spin- 
ning mules  and  8,821,627  spinning  frames. 

5  Estimate  of  Latham,  Alexander  and  Company.  [Tr.] 

6  For  1898  ;  from  the  Massachusetts  report:  Statistics  of  Manufactures, 
1898,  p.  259.  [Tr.] 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  industry  Massachusetts  has 
held  front  rank,  producing  about  $100,000,000  of  the  total 
production  of  $268,000,000  in  1890.  After  Massachusetts 
came  Rhode  Island  with  $27,000,000,  New  Hampshire 
$22,000,000,  Pennsylvania  $18,000,000,  Connecticut  $15,- 
000,000,  Maine  $15,000,000.  Three-fourths  of  the  factories 
were  grouped  in  New  England  in  1890,  which,  taken  as  a 
unit,  manufactured  products  worth  $143,000,000  in  1880 
and  $181,000,000  in  1890. 

New  England,  however,  did  not  make  the  greatest  pro- 
gress during  that  decade.  The  production  of  the  South 
Atlantic  States  rose  from  $16,000,000  to  $41,000,000, 
Georgia  taking  rank  immediately  beneath  Maine,  with  a 
production  of  $12,000,000.  From  1870  to  1899  the  number 
of  spindles  in  the  six  New  England  States  increased  from 
5,486,000  to  13,950,000;  the  increase  in  the  South  during 
the  same  period,  was  from  292,000  to  3,988,000.     In  other 


32  The  American  Laborer 

words,  the  production  in  New  England  has  increased  less 
than  threefold,  while  in  the  South  it  has  increased  nearly 
fourteenfold. 

Since  about  1880,  in  fact,  since  the  close  of  the  war,  north- 
ern capital  has  been  turning  towards  the  states  where  the 
raw  material  is  grown.  Rich  northern  manufacturers  have 
not  hesitated  to  establish  competing  factories  in  the  South, 
preferring  to  reap  for  themselves  the  advantages  of  cheap 
labor  and  proximity  of  the  supply,  rather  than  leave 
them  to  others.     The  trait  is  characteristically  American. 

In  the  sixty  years,  1835-1894,  the  consumption  of  cotton 
increased  tenfold  in  the  United  States,  which  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  period  retained  only  sixteen  per  cent,  of  the 
home  crop."  At  present,  although  the  production  of  raw 
cotton  has  increased  sixfold,  thirty-four  per  cent,  is  manu- 
factured at  home;  the  manufacturing  industry  has  grown 
more  rapidly  than  the  agricultural.  The  tendency  towards 
consolidation  has  been  apparent  for  many  years.  From 
1,240  in  the  year  1840,  the  number  of  establishments  fell 
to  905  in  1890,  while  the  number  of  spindles  increased 
sevenfold  and  the  consumption  of  cotton,  tenfold.  The 
explanation  is  found  in  the  increased  speed  and  power  of 
the  machinery  used.  Hand  labor  is  fast  disappearing;  the 
census  of  1890  recorded  14,000,000  mechanical  spindles  and 
324,800  power-looms.  In  1880  the  hand-industry  lingered 
in  a  few  mountainous  districts  of  the  South  into  which  the 
railroad  had  not  yet  penetrated,  and  a  few  women  with  their 
looms  and  spinning  wheels  were  brought  to  the  Cotton 
Exposition  at  Atlanta,  in  1881.  It  was  calculated  that  with 
their  methods,  the  five  operatives — two  carders,  two  spin- 
ners and  one  weaver — ought  to  produce  about  eight  yards 
of  common  calico  a  day,  while  five  operatives  with  modern 
machinery  would  produce  eight  hundred  yards,  or  even 
more,  at  present.65 

To  appreciate  the  rapidity  with  which  the  cotton  manu- 

67  Before   the   war    (1851-1860)   the  United   States  used   about  23 
per  cent,  of  the  home  crop. 
58  The  Distribution  of  Products,  by  E.  S.  Atkinson,  p.  68. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  33 

facture  has  grown  in  the  United  States,  it  is  necessary  to 
employ  a  table  of  comparative  statistics,  which,  though  very 
imperfect,  is  sufficient  to  demonstrate  that  this  growth  has 
been  more  rapid  than  that  of  any  European  state,  Russia 
excepted.  The  statistics  show  that  in  the  United  States  the 
number  of  spindles  has  increased  tenfold  since  1834,  while 
in  no  other  state  has  the  number  more  than  tripled;51'  that  the 
consumption  of  cotton  in  the  United  States  has  increased 
in  the  proportion  of  one  to  thirteen  from  1830  to  1887- 
1888,  while  it  has  increased  barely  sixfold  in  England;80 

59  THE    COTTON    MANUFACTURE    IN  EUROPE. 
From               From  Ch. 
Schertzer.               Grad.  From  Jnraschek. 

Countries.  1834.  18~x.  , 1R90.- 


Spindles.  Spindles.  Spindles.  Looms. 

Great  Britain    15,000,000  35,500,000  44,504,000  615,714 

United  States    1,400,000  10,000,000  14,088,000  250,000 

France 2,500,000  5,700,000  4,914,000  72,784 

German  Empire 500,000  4,700,000  5,500,000  245,000 

Alsace 1,700,000            

Russia 2,000,000  3,600,000  90,000 

Austria-Hungary    800,000  1,558,000  2,298,000  49,650 

India 3,273,000  24,650 

Switzerland 580,000  1,850,000  1,798,000  23,731 

Spain 1,400,000  1,885,000  7,559 

Italy 500,000  1,800,000  30,000 

Belgium 200,000             800,000           

Totals 20,9^0,000     62,700,000     87,756,000'      1,414,000' 

1  These  totals  include  the  spindles  and  looms  of  a  few  countries  not 
enumerated  in  the  table. 

[Latham,  Alexander  &  Co.,  in  their  publication,  Cotton  Movement  and 
Fluctuation^,  New  York,  1899,  estimate  the  number  of  spindles  in  the 
world  in  1899  at  104,197,735,  of  which  45,900,000  are  credited  to  Great 
Britain,  32,850,000  to  Continental  Europe,  17,937,735  to  the  United 
States,  4,400,000  to  the  East  Indies,  etc.] 

60  THE  CONSUMPTION  OF  COTTON  (FKOM  MULHALL). 

Countries.                          1830.                       1850.                        1869.  1887-P8. 

KilogramB.           Kilograms.           Kilograms.  Kilograms. 

Great  Britain   ..  .     113,200,000     266,300,000  498,700,000  693,100,000 

France    31,000,000       63,400,000         99,700,000  140,400,000 

German  Empire  .         7,000,000       20,800,000        66,500,000  171,200,000 

Russia 2,100,000       21,700,000        43,900,000  167,100,000 

Austria-Hungary.         9,100.000       26,300,000        43,400,000  106,400,000 

United  States  .  .  .       35,400,000     131,000,000  181,200,000  457,500,000 

India 15,800,000  108,200,000 

Total' 212,900,000     582,500,000  1,03S,200,000  2,096,400,000 

1  This  total  includes  the  figures  of  a  few  countries  not  specified  in  the 

table. 

[The  world's  consumption  of  cotton  in  the  year  1898-99,  according  to 

Latham,  Alexander  &  Co.,  was  11,977,000  bales,  of  which  Great  Britain 

consumed   3,588,000,  Continental  Europe  4,836,000,  the  United  States 

3,553,000.] 


34  The  American  Laborer 

that  the  United  States,  which  consumed  about  the  same 
amount  of  cotton  as  France  in  1830,  consumes  more  than 
three  times  as  much  to-day.  England  has  always  been  first 
in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  goods,  but  the  United  States 
is  constantly  drawing  nearer.  With  the  exception  of  Eng- 
land, where  a  large  part  of  the  production  is  exported,  the 
United  States  has  the  highest  production  per  capita  of  any 
country  in  the  world.61 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  United  States  also  does  a  little 
exporting,02  and  in  the  future  hopes  to  do  more.  The 
American  manufacturers  aspire  to  contend  with  England 
for  the  markets  of  Asia,  Africa  and  South  America,  but  at 
the  same  time  they  loudly  insist  that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  them  to  hold  their  own  if  they  were  not  protected  by  a 
heavy  tariff. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  already  control  the  home  mar- 
ket, and  the  seventy  million  people  of  America — where  high 
wages  permit  the  working  classes  to  spend  more  than  in 
Continental  Europe — constitute  a  trade  that  is  very  exten- 
sive and  constantly  increasing.  The  tastes  to  be  satisfied 
are  far  more  uniform  than  in  France,  as  the  different  classes 
dress  very  much  alike.  In  consequence  the  manufacturer 
is  not  forced  to  introduce  so  much  variety  into  his  produc- 
tion. He  turns  out  his  goods  in  vast  quantities — "  for  the 
million  " — with  the  assurance  of  finding  a  considerable  out- 
let for  an  article  of  good  appearance  and  fair  quality. 

Flax  and  hemp  are  comparatively  unimportant  in  the 
United  States;  the  silk  manufacture  holds  third  place 
among:  the  textile  industries.     Although  from  the  earliest 


81  According  to   Juraschek  the   production  of   cotton   goods   per 
capita  in  1886-1890  was  as  follows: 

Great  Britain 10.0  kilogr. 

United  States 8.8 

German  Empire 4.2 

France 3.0 

Austria-Hungary 2.2 

Russia 1.5 

82  $23,566,914  in  1899.     [Tr.] 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  35 

colonial  times  it  was  thought  that  the  climate  of  the  South 
would  prove  favorable  to  the  culture  of  the  silk  worm,63 
the  development  of  the  industry  came  later  than  that  of  the 
other  textiles.  During  the  eighteenth  century  the  industry 
was  encouraged  and  a  small  amount  of  silk  was  exported 
to  England  from  Carolina  and  Georgia.64  Sewing  silk  was 
the  principal  product,  its  manufacture  being  purely  a  house- 
hold industry.  A  little  weaving  was  also  done,  and  it  is 
related  that  in  1747  a  governor  of  Connecticut  wore  the  first 
silken  hose  and  doublet  manufactured  in  America.60  After 
the  Revolution  the  legislature  of  Connecticut  encouraged 
the  industry  by  bounties,  and  at  Mansfield  it  made  consid- 
erable headway.  In  1830  this  locality  was  still  the  principal 
center  of  the  silk  industry;  there  were  150  filatures,  and 
three-fourths  of  the  population  were  engaged  in  the  indus- 
try, raising  the  worms,  manufacturing  the  raw  silk  or 
thread,  and  weaving  ribbons,  buttons  and  handkerchiefs. 
In  1810  a  small  factory  was  erected,  advantage  being  taken 
of  a  convenient  waterfall. 

In  1828  a  manual  on  silk  culture  was  published  by  the 
direction  of  Congress,  and  ten  years  later  Massachusetts 
published  another.  For  several  years  the  Americans  were 
very  enthusiastic  about  a  species  of  the  mulberry  called  the 
multicaulis,  from  which  magnificent  results  were  expected. 
But  these  hopes  were  disappointed.  Up  to  the  present 
time  the  silk  culture  has  not  succeeded  in  the  United  States, 
although  the  silk  manufacture  has  made  remarkable  pro- 
gress since  1850. 

63  An  act  passed  in  Virginia  in  1656  (repealed  shortly  after)  im- 
posed a  fine  upon  any  planter  who  did  not  have  at  least  six  mul- 
berry trees. 

04  In  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  Carolina  exported 
each  year  quantities  varying  from  five  to  a  hundred  pounds.  In 
the  second  half  of  the  century  the  exports  from  Georgia  became 
more  considerable,  reaching  1,084  pounds  in  1768. 

63  The  President  of  Yale  College,  who  cultivated  the  worms  him- 
self, wrote  a  book  in  1758  upon  the  culture  of  the  mulberry  tree 
and  the  silk  worm. 


36  The  American  Laborer 

Foreign  silks  have  always  been  imported,  and  the  im- 
ports increased  rapidly  between  1840  to  1872.  Since  the 
latter  year  they  have  remained  almost  stationary.00  The 
way  is  barred  by  the  home  industry  which,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  almost  prohibitive  duties,  is  steadily  growing." 
The  importation  of  raw  silk,  however,  is  steadily  increasing. 
In  1850,  120,000  pounds  were  imported;  in  1870,  583,000 
pounds;  between  1872  and  1892  the  imports  increased  more 
than  twelvefold,  and  in  the  year  ending  June  30,  1898,  they 
exceeded  10,000,000  pounds.68 

The  impression  created  by  the  figures  just  cited  is  con- 
firmed by  the  more  circumstantial  statistics  of  the  census, 
although  some  of  the  figures  are  but  moderately  consistent. 

68  Imports  of  silk  manufactures:  from  the  census  of  1880  and  the 
Statistical  Abstract. 

Millions  of  Millions  of 

dollars.  dollars. 

1830 5.7  1872  36.4 

1839 21.6  1880  32  2 

1840 9.5  1890  38.6 

1850 17.6  1895  31.2 

1860 32.9  1899  25.1 

1870 23.8 

87  Of  the  amount  consumed  at  home  the  United  States  supplied 
13  per  cent,  in  i860,  23  per  cent,  in  1870,  38  per  cent,  in  1880,  and 
55  per  cent,  in  1890. 

68  IMPORTATION    OF    RAW    SILK,   1845- 


Years. 
1845 
1850 
1855 
1860 
1865 
1870 
1875 
1880 
1885 
1890 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 


o-io-ioys. 

Total  value 
of  raw  silk, 

Raw  silk 

(millions  of 

pounds). 

cocoons, 
eargs  and 
waste  (mil- 
lions ot  dollars) 

62 

0.2 

120 

0.4 

257 

0.7 

297 

1.3 

290 

1.2 

583 

3.0 

1,101 

4.5 

2,562 

12.0 

3,424 

12.9 

5,943 

24.3 

4,956 

16.2 

7,422 

22.6 

7,974 

26.7 

6,513 

18.9 

10,315 

32.1 

9,691 

32.4 

The  Progress  of  American  Industry  37 

A  comparison  of  the  estimates  of  the  total  product — $1,800,- 
ooo  in  1850,  $12,200,000  in  1870,  $87,200,000  in  1890 — 
reveals  enough  for  our  purposes.09 

The  machinery  used  in  the  manufacture  of  silks  has  been 
completely  revolutionized.  The  first  filature,  built  at  Mans- 
field, Conn.,  in  1810,  was  a  small  wooden  structure  about 
12  feet  square;  and  the  first  factory  in  which  the  general 
silk  manufacture  was  carried  on,  built  at  Paterson,  New 
Jersey,  in  1840,  was  also  located  in  a  small  house.  The 
Morrill  tariff  of  1861  imposed  a  duty  of  60  per  cent,  upon 
silks,  Together  with  the  war  and  the  paper  currency,  this 
duty  checked  importation  and  stimulated  the  national  pro- 
duction. Since  1870  the  total  number  of  spindles  has  in- 
creased tenfold,70  the  increase  in  the  number  of  looms  has 
been  still  greater,  there  are  more  than  seven  times  as  many 
employees,  and  the  growth  in  the  value  of  the  aggregate 
production  has  been  in  about  the  same  proportion.  As 
the  average  price  of  silks  has  greatly  diminished,  it  follows 
that  the  quantity  produced  has  largely  increased.  The 
manufacturers  have  made  great  efforts  to  increase  the  speed 
of  the  machinery  and  have  succeeded  in  obtaining  spindles 
that  will   make  from    12,000  to   15,000  turns  per  minute. 


69  SILK    MANUFACTURES    (CENSUS    ESTIMATES). 

1850.  1860.  1870.  1880.  1890. 

Establishments..  67  139  86  382  472 

Capital  (dollars) .      678,000   2,936,000    6,321,000  19,125,000  51,007,000 

Employees 1,723  5,435  6,649  31,337  50,913 

Spindles 12,040         508,137     1,254,798 

Looms 1,439  8,474  28,525> 

Materials 1,093,860    3,901,777    7,817,559  22,467,701    51,004,425 

Products(dollars)  1,809,474    6,607,662  12,210,080  41,033,045   87,298,454 

1  In  1898  there  were  38,199  silk  looms  in  the  United  States,  of  which 
20,964  were  operated  in  New  Jersey.  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  Massa- 
chusetts, 1898,  p.  262.      [Tr.]. 

70  The  number  of  hand  looms  on  broad  goods  has  greatly  dimin- 
ished (1629  in  1880  and  413  in  1890).  while  that  of  hand  looms  on 
narrow  goods  has  remained  about  the  same  (1524  and  1334);  the 
total  number  of  power  looms  seems  to  have  increased  fivefold 
since  1880.  No  conclusion  about  capital  can  be  drawn  because  the 
classification  has  been  changed  since  1880. 


38  The  American  Laborer 

Many  find  this  speed  excessive,  however,  and  prefer  ma- 
chines with  a  speed  of  from  7,500  to  10,000  revolutions  per 
minute.  Such  machines  require  the  best  raw  material,  and 
because  of  its  quality  Japanese  silk  is  being  imported  in 
constantly  increasing  quantities.  As  a  rule  the  quality  of 
the  fabric  is  mediocre.  The  principal  manufactures  are: 
ribbons,  which  the  Americans  consume  in  enormous  quan- 
tities; dress  and  cloak  trimmings;  plain  and  figured  dress 
goods;  n  foulards,  sewing  silk,  and  handkerchiefs.  The  last 
two  were  for  a  long  while  the  most  important  American 
silk  manufactures,  but  in  recent  years  they  have  fallen  off 
because  of  Japanese  competition. 

In  the  census  of  1890  attention  was  called  to  the  quan- 
tity of  silk  manufactured,  to  the  transformation  of  ma- 
chinery, and  in  particular,  to  the  progress  that  has  been 
made  in  the  variety  and  cheapness,  and  in  the  beauty  of 
the  colors  and  designs,  of  American  silk  goods.  The 
American  manufacturers  have  made  extraordinary  efforts 
since  the  Civil  War  to  obtain  control — and  the  sole  con- 
trol— of  the  home  market.  Congress  has  assisted  them 
with  exorbitant  tariffs,  and  they  themselves  have  contrib- 
uted to  the  result  by  their  efforts  toward  self-improvement. 

In  comparing  the  value  of  the  imports,  with  the  value  of 
the  home  production,  of  silk  goods,  it  is  found  that  the  lat- 
ter constituted  13  per  cent,  of  the  total  consumption  in 
i860,  23  per  cent,,  in  1870,  38  per  cent,  in  1880,  and  55  per 
cent,  in  1890.  The  American  producers  are  evidently 
making  rapid  headway  in  the  home  market,  and  the  home 
market  is  expanding  continually,  because  habits  of  luxury 
are  spreading  and  the  population  grows  apace.  It  is  not 
so  much  the  luxury  of  the  very  rich — who  will  have  im- 
ported silks  at  any  price — that  supports  the  American  in- 
dustry: it  is  the  luxury  of  the  masses.  As  I  noted  above, 
the  democratic  spirit  prompts  the  workingman's  wife  and 


71  The   production   of   dress    goods    increased   from   $4,100,000  in 
1880,  to  $15,100,000  in  1890. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  39 

daughter — particularly  the  daughter — to  wear  ribbons  and 
silks,  and  to  dress  like  the  wife  of  his  employer.  With  such 
trade  a  very  low  price  is  the  condition  of  success.  This  is 
why  France,  the  first  country  of  the  world  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  silks,  has  fought  with  so  little  success  in  the  Ameri- 
can market 72  and  sees  her  foothold  gradually  slipping  away, 
while  Japan  makes  greater  and  greater  inroads  and  begins 
to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  New  Jersey  manufacturers. 

Before  the  Civil  War  the  United  States  did  not  count, 
so  to  speak,  among  the  silk  manufacturing  countries.  In 
twenty-five  years  they  have  risen  to  the  second  rank,  im- 
mediately below  France.  According  to  the  last  census  the 
production  of  silk  goods  doubled  from  1881  to  1890  (from 
$41,000,000  to  $87,000,000). 73 

Miscellaneous  industries. — It  would  be  wearisome  to  con- 
tinue this  enumeration  of  industries  one  by  one.  The 
accompanying  table,  which  includes  only  those  industries 
whose  production  exceeded  $50,000,000  in  1890,  and  which 
have  not  been  previously  described,  will  suffice  to  confirm 
the  impression  that  there  has  been  a  rapid  advance  in 
almost  every  branch  of  American  industry  in  the  decade 
1 880- 1 890.  In  most  industries  the  value  of  the  production 
has  at  least  doubled;  in  some — painting  and  paper-hanging, 
plumbing,  car  manufacturing,  coffee-roasting — it  has 
tripled;  and  if  we  accept  the  statistics  of  masonry  as  strictly 
comparable  in  the  two  epochs — which  cannot  be  done — 
the    products    of   this    industry   have   increased  tenfold    in 

72  From  1847  to  1856,  according  to  the  French  customs  returns, 
the  exports  of  silk  manufactures  from  France  to  the  United  States 
had  an  average  annual  value  of  83.7  millions  of  francs;  from  1891 
to  1894  the  average  value  was  about  60  millions.  Nevertheless,  the 
total  importation  of  silk  goods  into  the  United  States  has  in- 
creased. 

73  The  latter  amount,  equivalent  to  about  440  million  francs,  is 
somewhat  reduced  by  M.  Natalis  Rondot.  Estimating  the  world's 
production  at  1863  millions  of  francs,  he  assigns  610  millions  to 
France,  400  millions  to  the  United  States,  305  to  Germany,  132  to 
Switzerland,  90  to  England,  and  81  to  eastern  Asia  (China,  Japan, 
India,  etc.). 


40 


The  American  Laborer 


value.74  The  phenomenon  of  consolidation  scarcely  shows 
itself  in  this  group,  because  it  is  composed  chiefly  of  hand 
trades,  such  as  house  painting,  printing,  masonry  and  car- 
pentry. With  a  single  exception  the  number  of  employees 
has  increased  in  every  branch,. 

Value  of 
Number  of  Employees  products 

establishments.  (thousands.)         (millions  of 

Industries.  dollars.) 

Boots   and   shoes,    factory  S^  i890.~"  1880.  1890?  1880.  1890. 

products 1,959  2,082  111  139  166  220 

Brick  and  tile 5,631  5,825  66  109  32  67 

Carpentering  9,184  16,917  54  94  140  281 

Carriages  and  wagons 3,841  8,614  45  73  64  114 

Cars,  railroad  and  street  .  .  130  166  14  35  27  76 

Chemicals 592  563  9  16  38  59 

Clothing,  men's 6,166  18,658  160  243  209  378 

Clothing,  women's,  factory 

product 562  1,224  25  42  32  68 

Cofl'ee   and   spice,  roasting 

and  grinding 300  358  2  5  22  75 

Confectionery 1,450  2,921  9  27  25  55 

Furniture,  cabinet  making 

and  upholstering 5,624  5,633  52  78  75  118 

Gas,  illuminating  and  heat- 
ing   742  ...  14  ...  56 

Hosiery  and  knit  goods  ...  359  796  28  61  29  67 

Leather,  tanned  and  curried  5,424  1,596  34  34  184  138 

Marble  and  stone  work 2,846  3,373  21  35  31  62 

Masonry,  brick  and  stone..  1,591  7,715  16  119  20  204 
Painting  and   paper   hang- 
ing   3,968  10,043  17  56  22  74 

Paper 692  567  24  29  55  74 

Petroleum,  refining ....  94  ...  12  ...  So 

Plumbing  and  gas  fitting.  2,161  5,327  9  42  18  80 

Printingand  publishing  .  .  3,467  16,566  58  165  90  275 

Saddlery  and  harness 7,999  7,931  21  30  38  52 

Tinsmithing,  coppersmith- 
ing  and  sheet-iron  work- 
ing   7,693  7,002  27  38  50  66 

Recapitulation. — The  official  statistics  of  manufactures 
furnished  by  the  United  States  are  more  complete  than 
those  of  any  other  country.  European  statisticians,  except 
in  a  few  industries  under  special  supervision,  do  not  ven- 
ture to  ask  for  or  to  publish  statistics  of  employees,  wages, 


74  The  apparent  exception  found  in  the  leather  manufacture  is 
explained  by  the  fact  that  in  1880  an  establishment  engaged  in 
both  tanning  and  currying  made  a  report  for  each  branch  and  was 
counted  twice,  while  in  1890  there  was  but  one  report  for  each  es- 
tablishment. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  41 

cost  of  materials,  value  of  products,  etc.,  and  where  they 
have  attempted  to  obtain  such  data,  they  have  not  always 
had  reason  to  congratulate  themselves  upon  the  result.  The 
American  statisticians  are  bold  enough  to  make  the  attempt, 
and  the  habits  of  the  people,  the  general  social  organiza- 
tion, and  in  particular,  the  administration  of  the  census 
upon  which  the  government  spends  large  sums,  seem  to 
justify  it.  There  is  no  doubt  that  many  of  the  figures  are 
mere  approximations  distorted  by  personal  interest  or  vi- 
tiated by  the  slender  basis  of  fact  upon  which  they  rest. 
Nevertheless  they  are  very  instructive,  taken  as  a  whole, 
and  the  conclusions  they  suggest  relative  to  the  subject 
which  concerns  us,  are  entirely  harmonious.  Examined  as 
a  whole  or  in  detail,  they  establish  the  fact  of  a  very  rapid 
development  in  American  industry  since  the  Civil  War. 
In  every  case,  or  in  almost  every  case,  there  has  been  an 
increase  in  capital  and  machinery,  in  the  number  of  laborers 
and  the  value  of  the  products;  while  in  many  instances  the 
number  of  establishments  has  decreased.  The  industrial 
unit  is  gradually  enlarging.  An  interesting  comparison 
of  the  population  and  wealth  at  each  census  since  1850, 
drawn  up  by  the  Department  of  Labor,  is  summarized  in 
the  following  table: 

Value   of    the 

products  of  the 

Property  real  agricultural.fish- 

Population.  and  personal.  ing,  mining  and 

manufacturing 
£  industries. 


OS  Ogt.  °.  A  <„  £  P.£ 

II       «.«        II         |S  ;|         M       33 


*3          o§~                             ~                «              5  og- 

1850   23.1           7.1             l.Oi          44 

1860    31.4         35.58          16.1          126.46            1.9>           84.5  60 

1870    38.5         22.63          30.0            86.07            6.82        260.4  177 

1880 50.1         30.08          43.6            45.14            7.93          16.5  159 

1890   62.6         24.86         65.0           49.02         12.1*          52.3  194 

1  Agricultural  products  are  not  included  in  this  total. 

2  Betterments  and  additions  to  industrial  capital  are  included. 

3  The  statistician  has  deducted  certain  values  which  were  duplicated 
in  the  original  publication. 

4  This  total   does  not  include  the  products  of  those   industries  not 
enumerated  in  the  preceding  censuses. 


42  The  American  Laborer 

The  report  on  the  manufacturing  industries  of  the  United 
States,  made  by  Trench  Coxe  in  connection  with  the  cen- 
sus of  1810,  assigned  to  the  aggregate  production  of  manu- 
factures in  that  year  a  value  of  $127,000,000.  By  the  addi- 
tion of  certain  doubtful  articles  better  classified  under  the 
head  of  agricultural  products,  Mr.  Coxe  raised  this  esti- 
mate to  $i98,ooo,ooo.T6  The  census  of  i860,  taken  imme- 
diately before  the  war,  returned  the  aggregate  value  of  all 
kinds  of  manufactures  at  $1,885,000,000;  according  to  the 
census  of  1890,  this  total  had  risen  to  $9,372,000,000.  I 
have  already  stated  why  these  figures  are  not  homogeneous 
enough  to  yield  a  numerical  ratio,  but  they  may  be  accepted 
as  a  proof  of  progress.  If  the  production  has  not  quin- 
tupled in  the  last  thirty  years,  it  has  certainly  undergone  a 
great  increase  in  quantity.  At  the  same  time  it  has  ex- 
panded territorially,  spreading  from  the  Atlantic  States, 
which  constituted  the  only  manufacturing  region  during 
the  first  thirty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  the  middle 
and  upper  basins  of  the  Mississippi,  and  along  the  shore 
of  the  Pacific.  According  to  Col.  Wright,70  the  center  of 
the  manufacturing  industries  was  in  eastern  Pennsylvania, 
to  the  north  of  Harrisburg,  in  1850;  in  1890  it  had  shifted 
to  the  vicinity  of  Canton,  Ohio. 

The  growth  in  the  number  of  laborers  has  been  less 
marked,  a  logical  result  of  the  increased  productivity  of 
labor,  due  to  machinery.  According  to  the  census  it  has 
quintupled  in  forty  years,  although,  as  I  noted  above,  a 
rigid  comparison  is  not  permissible  since  the  later  enum- 
erations have  been  more  complete  than  the  earlier  ones.  The 
census  of  1850  recorded  957,059  persons  employed  in  the 
manufacturing  industries;  that  of  1890,  4,712,622  persons.77 


75  The  Industrial  Evolution,  p.   138. 

76  The  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  160. 

"  Years.  Employees.  Tears.  Employees. 

18401 504,617      1870  2,053,996 

1850  957,059      1880 2,732,595 

1860  1,311,246      1890  4,712,622 

1  Enumeration  incomplete. 


The  Progress  of  American  Industry  43 

In  1850  this  class  of  laborers  constituted  four  per  cent,  of 
the  total  population;  in  1890,  seven  and  one-half  per  cent. 
The  laboring  class  seems  thus  to  have  increased,  not  only 
absolutely,  but  in  proportion  to  the  general  population. 

The  industrial  development  of  the  United  States,  by  rea- 
son of  its  importance  and  rapidity,  forms  an  unique  phe- 
nomenon in  the  economic  history  of  the  world,  and  for  this 
alone,  it  has  been  interesting  to  glance  over  it  and  fix  its 
landmarks  firmly  in  mind.  This  development  could  not 
have  taken  place  if  the  United  States  had  not  possessed  a 
climate  suitable  for  European  colonization  and  a  vast  terri- 
torial domain  sufficiently  rich  in  cultivable  lands,  not  less 
rich  in  useful  minerals,  and  easily  taken  from  a  native  race 
that  had  no  settled  place  of  abode.  Neither  would  it  have 
been  possible  had  not  an  endless  swarm  of  immigrants, 
armed  with  all  the  resources  of  civilization,  arrived  from 
Europe  to  fertilize  its  soil.  In  turn,  the  industrial  develop- 
ment which  we  have  been  describing  has  produced  a  certain 
social  condition  that  explains,  in  a  large  degree,  the  peculiar 
status  of  the  American  laborer.  This  is  why  it  was  neces- 
sary to  give  some  account  of  the  industrial  development  of 
America,  before  beginning  the  subject  proper. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PRODUCTIVITY  OF  LABOR  AND 
MACHINERY 

j> 

The  movement  towards  concentration. — American  statistics 
show  plainly  that  a  movement  towards  concentration  is  oper- 
ating in  almost  every  branch  of  industry.  Proof  of  this  fact 
is  given  by  the  figures  quoted  in  the  preceding  chapter. 
In  the  iron  industry  there  were  1,005  establishments  with  a 
production  valued  at  $69,500,000  in  1880;  in  1890,  there 
were  615  establishments  with  a  production  of  $431,000,000, 
and  prices  were  then  very  low.1  It  may  be  added  that  seven 
of  the  eighteen  establishments  producing  Bessemer  steel  in 
1890  furnished  more  than  ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  total 
product.  Five  of  these  (with  seven  factories)  were  located 
in  Pennsylvania,  one  (with  four  factories)  in  Illinois,  one 
in  Colorado.  There  has  been  a  double  concentration — in 
ownership  and  in  situation. 

In  the  woolen  industry  there  were  2,689  establishments 
in  1880  and  2,489  in  1890;  the  average  production  per  estab- 
lishment was  $98,000  in  1880  and  $136,000  in  1890.  The 
two  states  which  held  first  rank  in  this  industry — Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York — possessed  respectively  in  1870, 
16.4  and  12.7  per  cent,  of  the  total  number  of  carding  ma- 

1  In  spite  of  the  fall  of  prices  the  average  production  per  estab- 
lishment was  about  $665,000  in  1890  as  against  $256,000  in  1870. 
In  proof  of  the  fall  in  the  price  of  these  products.  Col.  Wright 
states  that  from  1870  to  1880  the  quantity  produced  increased  99 
per  cent.,  while  the  value  increased  only  43  per  cent.,  and  that  from 
1880  to  1890  the  quantity  increased  151  per  cent.,  the  value  of  the 
products,  61  per  cent. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  45 

chines  in  the  United  States;  in  1890  these  proportions  had 
risen  to  22.4  and  17.1  per  cent.,  respectively.2  The  districts 
which  profit  most  by  concentration  are  those  which  are 
best  equipped  when  the  process  begins.  In  the  cotton 
manufacture  there  were  936  establishments  in  1870,3  with 
an  average  production  of  $196,000;  in  1890,  905  establish- 
ments, with  an  average  production  of  $293,000.  During 
this  period  the  number  of  spindles  doubled,  and,  moreover, 
each  spindle  was  more  productive  in  1890  than  in  1870. 
As  the  prices  of  cotton  goods  have  diminished  greatly,  a 
fairer  idea  of  the  concentration  that  has  taken  place  may  be 
gathered  from  the  increase  of  spindles,  than  from  the  in- 
crease in  the  value  of  the  products.  In  the  silk  manufac- 
ture, the  number  of  establishments  has  increased  because 
of  the  rapid  expansion  of  this  industry  in  the  last  twenty 
years.  But  even  in  this  industry  the  average  capital  per 
establishment  increased  from  $72,000  in  1870  to  nearly 
$110,000  in  1890.  In  i860  there  were  213  mills  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  carpets,  and  the  total  production  was 
valued  at  less  than  $8,000,000.  In  1890  there  were  only 
173  mills,  but  the  production  had  risen  to  $47,700,000. 

The  number  of  flouring  and  grist-mills  decreased  from 
24,338  in  1880  to  18,470  in  1890,  their  average  daily  ca- 
pacity increasing  from  194  to  298  bushels.  In  the  same 
decade  4  the  number  of  chemical  works  decreased  five  per 

2  Eleventh  Census,  "Manufacturing  Industries,"  pt.  iii,  p.  15. 
[The   monograph   upon    "  The   Textile    Industries  "   published   in 

the  Massachusetts  report  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  1898,  contains 
some  very  interesting  information  upon  the  progress  of  concentra- 
tion and  the  decline  of  the  textile  industries  in  Massachusetts. 
From  1895  to  1898  the  number  of  textile  establishments  decreased 
from  593  to  500.  while  the  value  of  the  products  fell  from  $196.- 
964,178  to  $193,376,168,  a  decline  of  16  per  cent,  in  the  number  of 
establishments  as  against  a  decline  of  2  per  cent,  in  the  production. 
The  proportionate  numbers  of  carding  machines  owned  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York,  was  practically  the  same  in  1898  as  in 
1890.] 

3  Concentration  had  begun  even  at  this  time:  there  were  1,240  es- 
tablishments in  1840. 

4  It  was  pointed  out  in  the  Tenth  Coisus  that  the  number  of 
flouring  and  saw  mills  was  greater  in  1840  than  in  1880.  although 

5 


46  The  American  Laborer 

cent.,  while  the  value  of  their  products  increased  almost 
fifty  per  cent.5  The  number  of  furniture  factories  remained 
stationary,  while  their  production  increased  fifty  per  cent.; 
the  production  of  bricks  and  tiles  doubled,  while  the  number 
of  establishments  remained  the  same.  Even  in  those  indus- 
tries in  which  we  should  expect  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  establishments  and  in  which  the  enumeration  was  more 
complete  in  1890  than  in  1880 — c.  g.  masonry  c — the  size 
of  the  business  has  increased  more  rapidly  than  the  number 
of  entrepreneurs;  a  positive  indication  that  on  the  average 
the  industrial  unit  has  become  larger.  If  there  are  excep- 
tions, such  as  the  manufacture  of  confectionery,  in  which  the 
number  of  employers  has  increased  pari  passu  with  the  in- 
crease of  the  trade,  they  are  the  results  of  special  causes. 
I  shall  recur  to  this  industry  in  connection  with  the  "  Sweat- 
ing System." 

The  manufacture  of  agricultural  machinery  ought  to 
spread,  it  would  seem,  as  the  land  is  appropriated  and 
cleared  for  agricultural  purposes.  It  has,  however,  done 
nothing  of  this  sort.     The  subjoined  footnote  7  shows  that 

the  area  of  the  United  States  was  fifty  per  cent,  greater  at  the  latter 
date.     The  census  of  1890  shows  the  persistence  of  this  tendency. 

1840.  1880.  1S90. 

Flouring  and  grist-mills 23,361  24,338  18,470 

Sawmills 31,650  25,708  21,011 

c  In  1880,  49  establishments  produced  308.000.000  pounds  of  sul- 
phuric acid;  in  1890,  105  establishments  produced  1.384.000.000 
pounds,  although  the  price  had  diminished  about  seventy  per  cent. 
In  1880  there  were  278  establishments  making  chemical  fertilizers, 
in  1800  there  were  392  such  establishments,  and  the  production 
had  risen  from  727,000  to  1,898.000  tons.  The  production  of  glass 
has  doubled;  $21,154,571  in  1880,  $41,051,004  in  1890.  In  each  in- 
dustry noted,  the  average  production  per  establishment  was  greater 
in  1890  than  in  1880. 

6  In  1880,  1,591  establishments  with  a  production  of  $20,586,553; 
in  1890,  7,715  establishments  producing  $204,165,642. 

'Tears.  Establishments.        Employees.  Value  of  products. 

1870 2,076  25,349  $52,000,000 

1880 1,943  35,580  6S,000,000 

1890  910  30,730  SI, 000,000 

Tenth  Census.  "  Report  on  the  Factory  System  of  the  United 
States,"  p.  16.  Illustrations  of  this  kind  could  be  multiplied  in- 
definitely. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  47 

in  twenty  years  the  number  of  establishments  has  decreased 
more  than  fifty  per  cent.,  while  the  production  has  in- 
creased nearly  fifty-six  per  cent. 

Twenty  years  ago  Carroll  D.  Wright  used  these  words 
in  speaking  of  the  adoption  of  the  factory  system:  "  While 
the  inauguration  of  the  factory  system  in  the  United  States 
was  some  fifteen  years  later  than  its  birth  in  England,  the 
extension  of  the  system  has  been  more  rapid  and  its  appli- 
cation more  varied  here  than  in  any  other  country.  As 
parties  engaged  in  industries  other  than  the  manufacture 
of  textiles  saw  the  wonderful  results  of  systematized  labor, 
by  its  division  under  the  scientific  methods  of  the  factory 
system,  they  gradually  adopted  the  new  order,  until  now 
it  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  of  the  nearly  three  millions  of 
people  employed  in  the  mechanical  industries  of  this  coun- 
try, at  least  four-fifths  are  working  under  the  factory  sys- 
tem.8 Most  of  these  industries  have  been  brought  under 
the  factory  system  during  the  past  thirty  years  [1850-1880]." 

What  has  been  called  "  the  system  of  interchangeable 
mechanism,"  stands  in  intimate  relation,  both  as  cause  and 
effect,  to  the  progress  of  concentration  in  certain  indus- 
tries. Establishments  using  this  system  number  and  clas- 
sify, by  size  and  quality  when  possible,  the  parts  of  the 
machines  they  manufacture,  and  make  them  so  uniform 
that  any  part  is  capable  of  being  replaced  by  another  of 
the  same  number.  Under  such  conditions  the  manufac- 
turer finds  it  advantageous  to  employ  the  most  powerful 
and  delicate  machinery,  which,  being  confined  to  a  single 
operation,  turns  out  its  product  in  large  quantities.  The 
purchaser  of  a  machine  made  in  this  way  finds  no  difficulty 
in  securing  by  correspondence  a  substitute  for  any  part 
that  gets  out  of  order.  Thanks  to  this  system  the  manufac- 
turer can  produce  more  cheaply  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 


8  This  proportion  had  not  increased  in  1890.  but  it  was  on  account 
of  the  fact  that  the  enumeration  of  the  hand-trades  was  much  more 
complete  in  the  latter  year. 


48  The  American  Laborer 

the  other,  he  can  enlarge  his  trade — two  very  important 
considerations  in  a  country  as  vast  as  the  United  States. 
Specialization  is  the  result  of  this  system,  which  is  to-day 
applied  to  almost  every  commodity  of  large  consumption, 
from  agricultural  implements  and  steam-engines  to  watches 
and  nails." 

The  movement  towards  concentration  is  not  peculiar  to 
the  United  States:  it  is  one  of  the  characteristic  phenomena 
of  the  economic  evolution  of  our  time,  and  manifests  itself 
in  every  manufacturing  country.  The  principal  causes  of 
the  movement  are  to  be  found  in  the  cheapness  and  rapidity 
of  transportation,  which  facilitate  the  collection  and  distri- 
bution of  supplies;  the  application  to  production  of  scien- 
tific processes;  the  employment  of  steam  and  machinery; 
above  all,  in  the  construction  of  railroads,  the  growth  of 
capital  and  the  increase  of  consumption.  A  large  factory 
is  more  difficult  to  establish  than  a  small  workshop,  but 
when  once  established  it  has  the  advantages  of  bringing 
every  process  under  the  eye  of  the  entrepreneur,  of  giving 
greater  unity  of  direction  while  facilitating  a  rational  divi- 
sion of  labor,  of  economizing  space  and  motive  power,  of 
saving  time  and  facilitating  the  trial  of  new  inventions. 
Competition  is  continually  forcing  new  industries  to  intro- 
duce factory  methods,  and  impelled  by  the  same  force, 
the  industrial  unit  is  rapidly  undergoing  an  expansion  that 
is  limited  only  by  the  power  of  one  man  to  superintend  his 
personnel    and    manage    his    business    efficiently.     In    the 


9  Tenth  Census,  "  Manufactures,"  vol.  ii,  "  Interchangeable  Me- 
chanism." The  Americans  excel  in  this  system,  particularly  in  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  watches,  fire-arms,  agricultural  machinery, 
steam-engines,  electrical  appliances,  and  furniture.  In  some  in- 
dustries specialization  is  very  highly  developed,  while  in  others, 
several  processes,  usually  disassociated,  are  carried  on  together  in 
the  same  establishment.  The  manufacture  of  rubber  goods,  in 
which  one  establishment  manufactures  nothing  but  bands,  another 
only  hose,  a  third  shoes,  etc.,  furnishes  a  good  example  of  special- 
ization. Rubber  shoes  are  never  repaired;  it  is  cheaper  to  buy 
new  ones. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  49 

United  States  crises  seem  to  possess  a  peculiar  energy,  and 
these  have  aided  in  accelerating  a  transformation  that  be- 
comes, at  times,  brutally  rapid.  The  work  is  not  finished, 
the  transformation  continues;  in  the  future  it  will  probably 
proceed  with  even  greater  rapidity.10 

As  a  rule  household  industry  persists  only  where  wages 
are  low,  and  it  is  not  in  this  direction  that  we  should  look 
for  improvement.  Customs  duties,  which  have  been  in- 
creased in  most  countries  during  the  last  fifteen  years, 
restrain  commercial  expansion  and  offer  a  certain  amount 
of  resistance  to  the  movement  towards  concentration,  but 
they  cannot  arrest  it. 

The  household  industry  of  the  past  and  its  transformation. — 
At  one  period,  both  in  America  and  Europe,  manufactur- 
ing industries  of  all  kinds  were  on  a  very  small  scale.  The 
fabrication  of  woolen  goods,  now  manufactured  almost  ex- 
clusively in  factories  may  be  cited  as  an  example: 

"  Prior  to  1790  this  industry  was  almost  wholly  confined  to  the 
household,  in  this  country;  and  for  many  years  later  the  great  bulk 
of  the  domestic  woolen  goods  worn  by  the  people  continued  to 
be  made  in  the  homes  by  the  hand-card,  the  spinning-wheel,  and 
the  clumsy  wooden  hand  loom  inherited  from  the  original  settlers 
of  the  colonies 

10  The  following  table  shows  the  variation  in  the  number  of  es- 
tablishments and  in  the  value  of  the  products  of  the  nine  principal 
industries  of  Massachusetts,  from  1885  to  1895.  The  results  show 
that  the  total  number  of  establishments  decreased  nearly  n  per 
cent.,  while  the  value  of  the  products  increased  almost  20  per  cent. 

Nine  principal  in-  Establish-    Establish-        Value  of  Value  of 

dustries.  ments  in       mentsin         products,  products, 

1885.  1895.  1885,  1895. 

Boots  and  shoes   2,336  2,074  $114,729,533  $122,135,081 

Carpetings 46  14  6,536,341  7,447,115 

Cotton  goods 165  188  61,425,097  93,615,560 

Leather 699  649  28,008,851  27,863,217 

Machines  and  machinery.  622  660  20,365,970  33,492,848 

Metals  and  metallic  goods  2,732  2,309  41,332,005  40,297,899 

Paper  and  paper  goods..  148  160  21,223,626  27,955,024 

Woolen  goods 189  166  31,748,278  29,370,963 

Worsted  goods _23  31  11,198,148  20,975,996 

Total 6,990         6,251       336,567,849       403,153,703 

See  "Manufactures,"  Census  of  Massachusetts,  1885  and  1895.     [Tr.] 


50  The  American  Laborer 

"  Secretary  Hamilton  in  his  report  on  manufactures  [wrote] : 
'  there  is  only  one  branch  of  wool  manufacturing  which,  as  a  regu- 
lar business,  can  be  said  to  have  acquired  maturity;  this  is  the 
manufacture  of  hats.'  Speaking  of  the  household  manufacture  of 
fabrics  he  said:  'There  is  a  vast  scene  of  household  manufactur- 
ing which  contributes  more  largely  to  the  supply  of  the  community 
than  could  be  imagined  without  having  it  made  an  object  of  par- 
ticular inquiry.  Great  quantities  of  coarse  cloths,  coatings,  serges, 
and  flannels,  linsey-woolseys,  hosiery  of  wool,  cotton  and  thread, 
coarse  fustians,  jeans  and  muslins,  checked  and  striped  cotton  and 
linen  goods,  bedticks,  coverlets,  and  counterpanes,  tow  linens, 
coarse  shirtings,  sheetings,  toweling  and  table  linen,  and  various 
mixtures  of  wool  and  cotton,  and  of  cotton  and  flax,  are  made  in 
the  household  way,  and,  in  many  instances,  to  an  extent  not  only 
sufficient  for  a  supply  of  the  families  in  which  they  are  made,  but 
for  sale,  and  even  in  some  cases  for  exportation.  It  is  computed  in 
a  number  of  districts  that  two-thirds,  three-fourths,  and  even  four- 
fifths  of  all  the  clothing  of  the  inhabitants  are  made  by  them- 
selves.' "  u 

In  spite  of  the  efforts  made  by  devoted  patriots  or  ven- 
turesome entrepreneurs  to  introduce  the  English  factory 
system  in  America,  the  state  of  affairs  described  by  Mr. 
North  persisted  in  almost  all  sections  of  the  country  up  to 
the  year  1840,  not  only  in  the  woolen,  but  in  most  other  in- 
dustries. 

When  General  Humphrey  built  his  paper  mill  and  his 
cotton  and  woolen  factories  at  Humphreysville  in  1804, 
he  entertained  the  project,  among  others,  of  improving  the 
lot  of  the  poor  by  providing  them  with  work.  In  carrying 
out  his  paternalistic  scheme  he  built  cottages  for  his  work- 
men, each  of  which  had  a  small  garden.  He  also  provided 
teachers  for  the  apprentices.  Every  act  of  immorality  was 
punished  by  instant  dismissal.  But  the  prevailing  opinion 
was  so  unfavorable  to  the  factory  system,  the  horrors  of 
which  were  fully  described  in  the  English  newspapers,  that 

11 A  Century  of  American  Wool  Manufacture,  1790-1890,  by  S.  N. 
D.  North,  p.  5  ct  scq.  For  further  information  upon  this  subject,  see 
the  Massachusetts  report  Statistics  of  Manufactures  1898:  W.  R. 
Bagnall's  History  of  the  Textile  Industries  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  sketch  of  the  New  England  Wool  Manufacture  now  appearing 
in  the  Bulletins  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers, 
in  particular,  the  June  number,  iSqq.     [Tr.] 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  51 

many  parents  refused  to  allow  their  children  to  accept  em- 
ployment in  his  works.12  At  Lowell,  the  farmers'  daugh- 
ters whose  bearing  was  so  admired  by  Miss  Robinson  and 
Michel  Chevalier  about  1830,  decided  to  accept  work  in 
the  factories  only  after  great  hesitation, 

In  Pennsylvania  where  the  cotton  manufacture  was  estab- 
lished very  early,  it  was  carried  on  for  a  long  while  on  a 
very  small  scale:  the  first  important  company  dates  from 
1844.  The  same  is  true  of  paper;  it  was  made  by  hand  and 
in  small  quantities.  In  1854  a  small  mill  with  "  two  rag- 
engines  and  a  seventy-two-inch-cylinder  paper  machine " 
was  erected  in  the  county  of  Lancaster,  and  a  second  in 
1855.  But  a  few  years  later  they  were  both  in  ruins,  and  it 
was  not  until  1859,  or  really  after  the  Civil  War,  that  the 
manufacture  of  paper  by  machinery  became  at  all  suc- 
cessful.13 

In  1820  a  Massachusetts  cloth  mill,  the  largest  in  the 
United  States  at  that  time,  possessed  a  mechanical  equip- 
ment of  four  carding  engines,  one  picker,  three  jennies,  516 
spindles,  one  roper,  six  broadcloth  looms,  and  two  cassi- 
mere  looms.  The  company  employed  46  men,  23  women, 
and  23  children.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  industry  had  not 
advanced  very  far  beyond  this,  even  in  Europe.  In  1824 
the  machinery  for  wool-making  was  considerably  modified 
by  Goulding's  carding  machine;  after  1840  it  was  practically 
revolutionized  by  the  invention  of  the  Crompton  and 
Bigelow  looms  which  made  possible  the  weaving  of  fancy 
cassimeres  and  carpets  by  machinery.  As  early  as  1845 
there  was  one  establishment  in  Massachusetts  that  em- 
ployed 1 ,500  laborers,  and  another  that  employed  500.  But 
these  were  exceptional  cases. 

Most  of  the  industries  in  the  North,  including  the  manu- 
facture of  woolens  and  worsteds,  were  keenly  stimulated 
by   the   Civil   War.     In    1880   the    capital  invested   in    the 

13  Old  World  Questions  and  New  World  Answers,  1887. 
13  Second  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  Statistics,  Penn.,  1875, 
p.  368. 


52  The  American  Laborer 

woolen  manufacture  was  estimated  at  $159,000,000.  In 
the  census  of  1890  it  was  estimated  at  $296,000,000,  but  the 
two  valuations  are  hardly  comparable  as  the  latter  enumera- 
tion was  more  complete  than  the  former. 

The  Lowell  factories,  1835-1893. — A  comparison  of  the 
condition  of  the  principal  Lowell  establishments  at  these 
two  dates  will  give  a  sufficiently  accurate  idea  of  the  pro- 
gress and  the  concentration  which  have  taken  place  there. 
In  1835  Michel  Chevalier  commented  upon  the  importance 
of  these  factories.  The  largest  of  these,  The  Merrimack 
Manufacturing  Company,  had  a  capital  of  $1,500,000  in 
1835,  thirteen  years  after  it  was  founded.  It  operated 
34,432  spindles  and  1,253  looms;  in  its  printing  room  and  its 
five  spinning  and  weaving  rooms,  employment  was  given  to 
1,758  operatives;  it  manufactured  172,000  yards,  and  dyed 
and  printed  150,000  yards  of  cottonades  weekly.  In  1893 
the  number  of  rooms  was  the  same,  but  the  capital  had 
risen  to  $2,500,000,  the  number  of  spindles  and  looms  to 
158,976,  and  4,607  respectively,  the  weekly  output  of  manu- 
factured goods  to  1,000,000  yards,  and  the  weekly  output  of 
printed  goods  to  1,250,000  yards.14  In  other  words,  the 
products  had  increased  sixfold  and  sevenfold  respectively, 
while  the  number  of  hands  (2,800)  had  not  doubled.  These 
figures  contain  in  miniature  a  history  of  the  natural  evolu- 
tion of  modern  industry;  an  increase  of  capital  and  ma- 
chinery, a  greater  increase  of  products,  and  the  greatest 
increase  of  all  in  the  productivity  of  labor. 

Further  comparison  reveals  the  additional  facts  that  a 
considerable  saving  has  been  effected  in  the  amount  of 
cotton  employed,  probably  because  less  material  is  wasted 
and  the  fabrics  are  lighter.  The  saving  in  fuel  and  other 
accessory  materials  has  been  greater  still,  although  much 
more  power  is  obtained.18 

14  The  company   dyes   and   prints   goods   manufactured  by   other 
concerns. 

15  In  1885,  40.000  pounds  of  cotton  were  used  weekly:   in    1893, 
190,000   pounds.     Raw    material    has    thus  increased    only   375    per 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  53 

A  comparison  of  the  five  other  joint-stock  companies 
which  existed  in  1835 — two  of  them  have  now  consoli- 
dated— yields  similar  results.  There  are  now  ten  incor- 
porated companies,  four  more  than  in  1835,  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  cotton;  the  total  number  of  spindles  has 
been  raised  from  116,804  to  95l  A72>  tne  number  of  looms 
from  3,933  to  28,583;  with  their  more  productive  machin- 
ery they  put  out  244,500,000  yards  of  cottonades  in  1893, 
while  in  1835  the  production  barely  reached  3,800,000;  the 
number  of  operatives  has  only  tripled  (6,563  in  1835,  20,866 
in  1893).  Few  industries ,  in  Europe  or  America,  could 
furnish  such  exact  data  for  a  comparison  extending  over 
sixty  years,  although  certain  figures  do  not  refer  to  exactly 
the  same  things  in  both  epochs.  The  preceding  statistics, 
which  are  given  in  extcnso  in  the  following  table,  are  taken 
from  the  Annual  Statistics  of  Manufactures  in  Lowell  and 
Neighboring  Towns,  January,  1893.  They  are  instructive 
from  several  standpoints  and  place  in  a  clear  light  the  phe- 
nomenon of  concentration  in  the  United  States, 

The  introduction  of  the  giant  industry. — With  respect  to 
machinery  and  the  general  introduction  of  large  manufac- 
turing plants,  the  United  States  is  at  the  present  time  in 
advance  of  the  countries  of  continental  Europe  and  even,  I 
believe,  of  England. 

I  have  visited  establishments  of  many  kinds  and  every1- 
where  I  have  been  struck  by  the  pains  which  the  Americans    ^/ 
take  to  economize  labor.     At  the  Maryland  Steel  Works!  .  &     \ 
situated  on  the  water-front  at  Sparrow's  Point  near  Balti- 
more, the  fuels  and  ores  are  received  by  boat  and  hauled  to 
the   blast-furnaces   in   cars.     The   cars   are   then  raised   by 
elevators  over  the  mouth  of  the  furnace  and  automatically 
emptied  through  the  bottoms.     Each  of  the  four  blast-fur-   Y 
naces  has  a  daily  capacity  of  about  250  tons  of  pig  iron, 
and  the  iron  is  converted  into  steel  in  two  converters  which 

cent.,  while  the  production  has  increased  481  per  cent.  The  con- 
sumption of  oil  and  fuel  has  increased  about  172  per  cent.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  compare  the  water  power  employed. 


54 


The  American  Laborer 


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The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  55 

have  an  average  capacity  of  sixteen  tons  per  heat.  The 
ingot-molds  are  all  fixed  on  a  revolving  table  which  car- 
ries them  one  after  another  to  the  tap-hole  of  the  converter, 
where  they  receive  the  molten  steel.  The  Maryland  Steel 
Works  cover  1,000  acres,  and  were  built  in  1889  with  the 
design  of  utilizing  Cuban  ores.  The  blowing  engine,  the 
revolving  molds,  the  huge  pumps  with  a  daily  capacity  of 
millions  of  gallons,  the  blast-furnaces  rising  eighty-five  feet 
in  air  like  the  towers  of  a  fortress;  everything  throughout 
is  colossal. 

The  Homestead  Steel  Works  belong  to  the  Carnegie 
Steel  Company,  and  are  situated  about  six  miles  from  Pitts- 
burg, in  a  village  which  consists,  so  to  speak,  of  the  works, 
the  workmen  and  the  few  stores  which  the  latter  support. 
The  company  manufactures  ship-plates  and  structural  ma- 
terials. In  1892,  the  year  of  the  well-known  strike  of  which 
I  shall  speak  in  another  chapter,10  about  3,800  men  were  em- 
ployed in  the  works.  When  I  visited  the  works  business 
was  very  dull  and  the  employees  numbered  only  3,200. 
This  plant  has  produced  as  high  as  4,000,000  tons  of  steel 
in  a  single  year.  The  Carnegie  Company  owns  in  addition 
eight  other  works  and  employs  in  all  about  13,000  men. 
Some  years  ago  the  several  plants  controlled  by  the  com- 
pany were  valued  at  $25,000,000,  which,  it  seems,  is  far  too 
low  an  estimate.1"3. 

The  two  converters  in  the  Homestead  works  each  holds 
ten  or  eleven  tons.  The  roll-train,  consisting  of  three 
superimposed  rolls  of  enormous  power,  fashions  with  ease 
and  with  comparatively  little  noise,  enormous  pieces  of  steel. 
In  the  great  shop  in  which  the  roll-train  is  situated,  an  end- 
less chain  carries  the  ingots  on  a  revolving  table  three 
hundred  feet  long.17     The  glowing  ingot  is  caught  between 


16  See  chap.  v. 

16a  Capitalized  recently,  in  combination  with  the  H.  C.  Frick 
Manufacturing  Company,  at  $160,000,000.  The  true  value  was  prob- 
ably very  much  greater  than  $100,000,000.     [Tr.] 

17  Mr.  Schoenhof  says  that  before  the  introduction  of  these  auto- 
matic  tables,    from   fifteen  to   seventeen    men   were    required   in  a 


56  The  American  Laborer 

the  lower  and  middle  rolls,  flattened,  elevated  by  a  table 
to  the  level  of  the  top  roll,  again  lengthened  and  flattened 
by  several  passes,  until  finally  it  is  twenty  times  as  long  as 
when  it  started.  Six  heating-furnaces  keep  the  bloom  at 
white  heat  while  it  is  being  rolled.  Much  of  the  heating  is 
done  by  natural  gas  and  it  was  to  take  advantage  of  this 
fuel  that  the  present  site  was  selected. 

The  ship-plates  are  made  in  another  building,  over  600 
feet  long  and  specially  constructed  for  this  work.  The 
trimming  and  finishing  machines,  imported  from  Scotland, 
are  capable  of  handling  armor-plates  twenty  inches  thick. 
At  the  time  of  the  strike  the  company  was  under  contract 
to  furnish  the  Government  6,000  tons  of  armor-plate. 

The  Illinois  Steel  Company,  another  of  these  gigantic 
works,  was  founded  a  few  years  ago  by  the  consolidation 
of  several  companies.  Situated  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  Chicago,  it  receives  by  direct  shipment  over  Lake  Michi- 
gan the  excellent  Lake  Superior  ore,  which  is  unloaded 
with  surprising  rapidity  by  a  few  workmen  using  two  ma- 
chines. The  number  of  employees  varies  from  3,500  to 
3,8oo.18 

The  eight  blast-furnaces  are  arranged  in  two  rows,  and 
built  upon  iron  platforms.  Each  furnace  is  provided  at  the 
back  with  four  blowing-engines,  and  has  a  capacity  of  from 
300  to  350  tons  per  day.  Together  with  the  three  con- 
verters, each  able  to  pour  2,000  tons  of  steel  daily  into  the 
ingot-molds  arranged  around  them,  they  produce  an  im- 
posing idea  of  the  power  of  this  establishment. 

The  rolling-mill,  which  is  about  300  feet  long,  produces 
an  impression  even  more  thrilling,  because  the  exhibition 
of  power  is  supplemented  by  the  crash  and  roar  of  enor- 
mous machines  at  work.  These  machines  take  up  the 
glowing  ingots,  which  are  larger  than  a  man,  carry  them 

rail-mill  which  now  requires  but  five.  The  Economy  of  High  Wages, 
P-  94- 

13  In  addition,  there  are  from  4,300  to  5,000  workmen  employed  in 
the  loliet  and  Bridgeford  works  which  belong  to  the  same  com- 
pany. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  57 

to  and  from  the  rolls,  flatten  them,  and  finally  draw  them 
out  into  sections.  They  are  transformed  instantly,  so  to 
speak,  into  steel  rails,  and  are  then  carried  by  tables  moved 
on  endless  chains  to  the  end  of  the  room,  where  circular 
saws  cut  them  into  the  regular  lengths,  with  a  strident 
grinding  and  a  continuous  shower  of  sparks.  There  are 
few  workmen  in  this  vast  room.  In  the  center,  a  roller 
with  three  or  four  assistants  directs  the  machinery  by  press- 
ing a  button.  At  the  end  of  the  room  one  sees  a  few 
laborers.  The  machines  do  everything,  and  there  is  much 
to  be  done;  the  rolling  alone  requires  3,000  horsepower. 
But  they  accomplish  their  work  with  ease,  now  giving  the 
idea  of  might  as  the  rolls  exert  their  power,  now  that 
of  grace  as  the  cranes  grasp  and  lift  the  ingots.  It  is  not 
astonishing  that  certain  employees  upon  whom  the  success 
of  the  operations  depend,  are  well  paid.  I  was  told  that 
the  chemist  who  examined  the  color  of  the  flames  issuing 
from  the  converter,  made  $430  in  the  month  of  May. 

These  three  are  undoubtedly  establishments  of  the  first 
rank  and  cannot  be  taken  as  representative.19  But  if  we  omit 
them,  it  may  still  be  asserted  that  the  average  size  of 
establishments  of  this  kind  in  the  United  States  is  larger 
than  in  Europe.  The  aggregate  capital  of  the  645  iron  and 
steel  works  enumerated  in  the  census  of  1890  was  $372,- 
500,000,  about  $580,000  per  establishment. 

Every  one  knows,  in  Europe  as  in  America,  how  the 
capacity  of  the  blast-furnace  has  been  increased,  but  every- 
one is  not  aware  how  far  America  is  in  advance  of  Europe 
in  this  respect.  It  is  not  that  the  Europeans  are  incapable 
of  constructing  the  largest  furnaces;  I  understand  that  sev- 
eral of  gigantic  size  have  been  built  in  Scotland,  though 
they  seem  to  have  been  unsuccessful.  In  France  100  tons 
is  considered  a  very  good  clay's  product.     I  have  just  cited 

19  Nor  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Company  with  its  hammer  of  125  tons 
which  has  a  stroke  of  more  than  16  feet.  The  hammer  was  mod- 
elled after  the  celebrated  one  at  Creusot,  France.  The  works  date 
from  1857. 


58  The  American  Laborer 

several  furnaces  in  America  which  produce  300  tons  or 
more. 

Mr.  Swank  has  given  some  account  of  the  development 
of  the  blast-furnace  in  his  Iron  In  All  Ages.  He  cites  the 
"  noteworthy  achievements  "  of  a  New  Jersey  furnace,  20 
by  55  feet,  which  in  one  week  in  1850  produced  251^2  tons 
of  pig  iron,  and  in  another  week  in  1858,  319  tons.  In 
1884  a  furnace  "  located  at  Etna,  near  Pittsburgh,  closed  a 
three-years'  blast,"  during  which  the  average  weekly  out- 
put was  1,090  tons.  In  1890  a  furnace  at  Braddock,  Penna., 
produced  2,462  tons  in  one  week  and  502  tons  in  one  day.20 

There  were  more  blast-furnaces  in  the  United  States 
twenty  years  ago  than  there  are  to-day.  The  number 
reached  its  maximum,  455,  in  1881,  then  diminished  steadily 
to  311  in  1890;  meanwhile  the  production  had  doubled.  It 
is  very  evident  that  the  average  capacity  of  the  blast-fur- 
nace has  increased.21  In  1875  it  was  19  tons;  24  in  1880; 
57  in  1885;  82  in  1890;  and  100  tons  in  1893.23  As  a  rule 
it  is  the  smallest  furnaces  which  are  unable  to  stand  the 
competition  and  in  consequence  have  to  be  abandoned. 

The  introduction  of  the  converter  into  the  United  States 
dates  from  1865,  ten  years  after  its  invention  by  Bessemer. 
The  Siemens-Martin  furnaces  date  from  1868.     Both  have 

20  Iron  in  All  Ages,  p.  452  et  seq. 

21  Blast-furnaces  in  the  United  States: 

In  blast  on  Total  number 

Tears.          December  31.  in  existence. 

1873 410  657  Before  the  crisis. 

1876 236  During  the  crisis. 

1881 455  716  Maximum. 

1884 236  New  decline. 

1889 344  570  New  maximum. 

1890    311  562 

1897 191  423 

1899 289  414 

22  The  annual  output  of  pig  iron  at  the  last  three  census  years 
was  as  follows: 

Production      Annual  production 
(millions  of  short  per  establishment 
Tears.  Establishments.  tons).  (metric  tons). 

1870 386  2.0  5,318 

1880 341         3.8        11,000 

1890 304         9.9        32,587 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  59 

multiplied  rapidly,  and  their  output  has  increased  as  their 
capacity  has  been  enlarged.  The  production  of  Bessemer 
has  grown  from  2,679  ^onS  tons  m  J867,  to  6,609,017  in 
1898;  that  of  open-hearth  steel,  from  1,339  tons  in  1870,  to 
2,230,292  tons  in   1898. 

I  might  cite  a  number  of  examples,  hardware-,  carriage-, 
lead-manufactories,  etc.,  where  the  machinery  and  the  econ- 
omy of  labor  have  struck  me  as  remarkable.  I  pass,  how- 
ever, to  others;  it  would  be  superfluous  to  multiply  ex- 
amples from  the  metallurgical  industries.23 

Until  about  1850  the  farmers  of  Massachusetts  made  their 
own  foot-wear,  working  at  home  in  the  dull  seasons.  By 
degrees  the  manufacture  was  developed  on  a  small  scale, 
particularly  at  Lynn,  and  as  machinery  was  perfected,  the 
small  shops  were  replaced  by  large  factories.  Of  all  these 
allied  trades  shoemaking  is  the  one  in  which  the  transfor- 
mation has  been  most  complete.  In  the  factories  which  I 
visited  at  Lynn  and  Nashua,  Xew  Hampshire,  everything 
is  done  by  machines  whose  variety,  speed,  ingeniousness 
and  skill,  if  the  last  term  be  permissible,  are  remarkable. 
One  factory  employing  233  operatives  produces  daily  2,100 
pairs  of  women's  shoes,  about  nine  pairs  a  day  for  each  em- 
ployee. There  is  no  place  for  the  all-round  workman,  as 
no  one  makes  a  complete  shoe;  the  object  is  to  obtain V 
speed  in  one  operation.  One  operative  cuts  out  the  soles, 
another  the  uppers,  a  third  fixes  the  heels;  some  of  the 
sewing  is  done  by  women,  one  making  the  buttonholes,  her 
neighbor,  the  hems,  another  sewing  on  the  buttons.  Each 
one  uses  a  separate  machine,  the  common  property  of  which 
is  speed;  the  button-hole  machine  makes  4,760  button-holes 
a  day.  With  the  assistance  of  one  of  the  operatives  I  cal- 
culated that  each  pair  of  shoes  passes  through  fifty-three 
hands.     This  is  one  of  the  industries  in  which  the  division 


"  For  a  description  of  the  principal  concerns  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  agricultural  and  food  products,  see  L' Agriculture  aux 
Etats-Unis,  by  E.  Levasseur. 


60  The  American  Laborer 

of  labor  has  been  carried  the  farthest,  and  owing  to  new 
inventions  a  constant  tendency  toward  further  subdivision 
is  apparent. 

A  French  workingman  enumerates  ten  kinds  of  machines 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  shoes,  which  were  in  operation 
in  the  model  work-room  at  the  Chicago  fair.  Several  of 
these  are  in  use  in  France.  Low  prices,  at  least,  are  secured 
by  such  machinery.24 

Cigars  were  originally  manufactured  by  hand.  When 
the  manufacture  by  the  so-called  "  German  mold  "  was  in- 
troduced, the  workmen  at  many  places  went  on  strikes  and 
destroyed  the  machines,  in  the  belief  that  the  new  system 
would  make  their  skill  worthless  and  reduce  wages.  They 
were  forced  to  bend  before  necessity,  however,  and  the  ma- 
chines triumphed,  if  not  everywhere,  at  least  in  the  manu- 
facture of  cheap  cigars.  The  same  results  followed  the 
introduction  of  the  "  bunch-making  and  rolling  system," 
and  certain  machines  which  rendered  other  parts  of  the 
work  mechanical.  After  numerous  strikes  the  workmen 
were  obliged  to  yield,  and  in  1873  the  Cigar-makers'  Union 
consented  to  admit  men  who  used  these  machines.25 

Cheapness  is  the  principal  aim  of  all  these  improvements, 
in  whatever  industry  they  are  introduced.  In  order  to  sup- 
port their  demands  for  protective  legislation,  the  American 
manufacturers  are  constantly  repeating  that  without  the 
tariff  they  would  be  unable  to  withstand  foreign  competi- 
tion. But  in  many  industries  they  meet  the  foreign  com- 
petitor successfully  on  his  own  ground,  and  at  times  they 
boast  of  the  fact.  It  is  well  known  that  they  have  gained 
a  foothold  in  the  French  markets  on  the  strength  of  their 
low  prices,  and  they  are  right  in  doing  so.     I  brought  back 


24  The  delegate  from  the  shoemaker's  union  of  Paris  asserts  that 
the  Americans  are  superior  to  the  French  not  only  in  the  manu- 
facture but  also  in  the  prices  of  their  shoes,  which  are  from  20  to 
30  per  cent,  lower  than  in  France. 

25  Fourth  Biennial  Report  of  the  Minnesota  Bureau  of  Labor,  p.  303. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  61 

from  America  a  stout  pair  of  men's  shoes,  the  wholesale 
price  of  which  was  only  eighty  cents. 

Other  countries  contain  great  establishments  comparable 
to  those  which  I  have  just  cited;  this  is  just  as  unquestion- 
able as  the  fact  that,  in  America,  all  the  factories  are  not 
modelled  after  those  I  have  described.  Every  country 
loves  to  show  visitors  the  specimens  that  do  it  credit,  and 
the  visitors  themselves  are  attracted  to  the  large  establish- 
ments. I  saw  many  plants  of  average  size  and  I  realize 
that  there  are  many  establishments  conducted  on  a  scale 
by  no  means  superior  to  that  which  we  are  accustomed  to 
in  France.  The  tendency  of  new  establishments,  however, 
is  to  operate  on  a  large  scale. 

Visits  of  the  French  labor-delegates  to  the  Chicago  exposi- 
tion.— This  delegation  was  divided  into  a  number  of  groups, 
each  of  which  visited  several  establishments  in  their  special 
trade  during  the  space  of  a  very  rapid  visit.  In  almost 
every  instance  the  impression  received  was  the  same. 
Speaking  of  a  manufactory  of  machine-tools  at  Philadel- 
phia, they  remark  that  the  industry  is  more  specialized  than 
in  France,  the  machinery  costlier,  but  by  its  greater  pro- 
ductivity, more  conducive  to  low-priced  products.26  In  the 
works  of  a  company  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  iron 
bridges  they  note  the  complete  mechanical  equipment  and 
in  particular  a  stamping-machine  that  "  repays  many  times 
over  the  $12,000  that  it  cost."  ..."  You  feel  that  ma- 
chinery is  expected  to  do  everything,"  said  the  delegate 
from  the  furniture  industry.  "  With  the  part  of  the  work- 
man reduced  to  a  minimum,  they  produce  quickly,  in  large 
quantities  and  at  low  cost."  2T 

The  delegation  also  remarked  how  alert  the  Americans 
are  for  new  improvements.  "  American  manufacturers," 
they  say  in  the  preamble  to  their  report,  "  invariably  seem  to 
amortise  their  capital  with  the  settled  intention  of  replacing 
their  machines  by  new  and  improved  patterns."2 

28  Rapport  de  la  delegation  onvriere,  p.  71. 

27  Rapport  de  la  delegation  ouvriere,  p.  144.  28  Ibid.,  p.   13. 

6 


62  The  American  Laborer 

In  reference  to  a  prominent  manufacturer  of  agricul- 
tural machinery,  Messrs.  Grille  and  Lelarge  say:  "  This 
is  the  oldest  house  of  the  kind  in  America.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  fact,  it  is  impossible  to  find  in  it  a  machine  that  is 
old-fashioned  or  out  of  date.  It  is  evident  that  as  soon  as 
a  machine  is  worn  out  or  superseded  by  an  improved  pat- 
tern, it  is  forthwith  thrown  on  the  junk-pile." 

I  myself  received  evidence  of  this  feeling.  In  Minne- 
apolis I  went  through  the  factories  at  night,  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Powers,  the  commissioner  of  labor.  We 
remained  more  than  an  hour  at  one  saw-mill  on  the  bank 
of  the  Mississippi,  whose  buildings  were  little  better  than 
sheds.  I  admired  the  powerful  machinery  as  it  incessantly 
lifted  great  trunks  of  trees  from  the  water,  handling  them 
like  match-sticks,  but  with  a  deafening  noise,  trimming 
them,  sawing  them  up,  and  a  few  moments  after  their  de- 
parture from  the  water,  automatically  piling  up  the  finished 
boards.  This  mill  turned  out  300,000  feet  of  lumber  in 
twenty-four  hours.  "  This  system  is  two  years  old,"  the 
commissioner  said :  "  I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  show 
you  one  of  our  newer  mills  that  is  not  running  to-night. 
This  one  will  soon  have  to  be  reconstructed."  On  our 
return  we  saw  near  the  river,  a  building  whose  windows 
were  broken.  When  I  asked  what  the  building  was,  he 
replied:  "a  mill  that  is  seven  years  old.  The  machinery 
has  changed  so  much  that  it  had  to  be  abandoned." 

The  delegates  representing  the  metallurgical  and  me- 
chanical industries  conclude  their  report  in  these  words: 
"  In  ending  this  account  of  our  visits,  we  cannot  refrain 
from  testifying  to  the  great  productivity  of  machinery  in 
general.  In  this  respect  the  Americans  are  certainly  ahead 
of  us,  and  their  superiority  is  primarily  due  to  the  fact  that 
their  manufacturers  do  not  hesitate  to  spend  enormous 
sums  for  machinery.  They  use  the  very  best  steel,  what- 
ever the  cost  may  be;  the  astonishing  speed  of  their  ma- 
chinery would  be  impossible  if  the  material  were  not  of  the 
best  quality.     The  high   specialization  of  their  machinery 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  63 

seems,  in  many  instances,  to  partake  of  the  marvellous;  it 
is  a  result  of  the  division  of  labor  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other,  of  a  competition  between  powerful  concerns 
which  is  much  more  intense  than  in  France."  a 

The  delegates  of  the  labor-unions  of  Paris  returned  in 
exactly  the  same  frame  of  mind,  and  expressed  themselves 
even  more  bluntly.  "  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  the  per- 
fection of  their  machinery,"  writes  the  shirt-maker,  "  it  is 
marvellous."  "  By  the  great  development  of  machinery," 
said  the  shoemaker,  "  the  American  workman  finds  his  work 
reduced  to  the  simple  task  of  directing  machines.  We 
have  particularly  noticed  the  skill  of  the  Americans  in 
manipulating  their  machines;  they  know  how  to  get  good 
work  out  of  their  machines;  we  know  that  they  have  got 
the  manufacture  down  to  perfection."  "  The  mechanical 
industry  has  arrived  at  such  a  point  in  America,"  says  the 
machinist,  "  that  if  we  wish  to  contend  against  it  without 
a  protective  tariff,  we  must  relegate  our  machines  to  the 
garret  and  get  modern  types."  30 

Trusts  and  the  extent  of  the  market. — Among  the  reasons 
which  explain  the  importance  and  number  of  large  estab- 
lishments in  America,  it  is  necessary  to  include,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  people,  the  size  of  the 
population  and  the  high  per  capita  consumption.  The 
Americans  now  possess,  within  the  boundaries  of  their 
own  state,  an  unrestricted  market  of  seventy  million  pur- 
chasers, provided  throughout  with  rapid  and  inexpensive 
means  of  communication,  and  totally  free  from  octrois  or 
internal  tariffs.  The  population  is  increasing  rapidly,  and 
on  the  average,  the  people  spend  more  in  equipping  farms 
and  factories,  in  clearing  the  soil,  constructing  houses,  and 
in  personal  enjoyment,  than  do  the  people  of  Europe.  Here 
we  have  the  reason,  to  employ  one  example,  why  they  have 

"Ibid..  P.  131. 

30  Delegation  des  Syndicats  des  Ouvriers  de  Paris  a  V Exposition  de 
Chicago,  pp.  325,  345',  387. 


64  The  American  Laborer 

built  more  miles  of  railroad  than  the  380,000,000  inhabit- 
ants of  Europe  have  done.  And  everything  is  on  the  same 
scale.  Knowing  that  their  market  will  not  fail  them,  manu- 
facturers are  encouraged  to  carry  production  to  the  high- 
est possible  point  and  thus  produce  at  the  lowest  cost. 

The  Americans,  moreover,  to  use  one  of  their  own 
phrases,  love  to  act  and  talk  big;  it  is  one  of  their  tricks  of 
speech.  Among  the  superlatives  with  which  they  qualify 
their  products  and  their  establishments,  one  constantly 
hears  the  expressions:  "the  greatest,"  "the  largest  in  the 
world,"  etc. 

"  The  American  system  gives  great  results  in  times  of 
active  demand  and  unrestricted  outlet,  but  shows  frequently 
disastrous  results  when  depression  sets  in,"  writes  Mr. 
Schoenhof.31  A  French  engineer  to  whom  I  spoke  of  the 
powerful  machinery  at  Homestead  answered:  "That  is  all 
very  well;  we  could  do  the  same  in  France;  but  we  would 
not  want  to  do  it,  because  in  one  month  we  should  have 
filled  the  whole  year's  orders." 

Another  cause  of  concentration  is  found  in  the  mobility 
of  the  population,  and  the  rarity  of  caste  traditions.  Un- 
like Europe,  there  is  no  district  where  an  occupation  de- 
scends from  father  to  son.  Consequently  the  entrepreneur 
does  not  have  to  disturb  himself  with  this  consideration 
when  he  sets  up  a  factory.  The  works  once  open,  work- 
men are  sure  to  arrive,  often,  if  the  wages  be  good,  from 
great  distances. 

There  is  competition  between  these  great  concerns;  but 
in  America  as  in  Europe,  or  even  more  than  in  Europe,  the 
competitors  realize  that  they  would  do  better  by  acting  in 
concert.  In  consequence,  "  trusts "  and  "  rings "  are 
formed.  Some  of  these  are  now  very  powerful,  and  have 
even  acquired  a  certain  celebrity  in  commercial  history. 

When  socialists  reproach  the  capitalists  with  having  re- 
pudiated   their    principles    by    forming    "trusts,"    "pools," 

31  The  Economy  of  High  Wages,  p.  56. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  65 

"  rings,"  etc.,  it  is  to  America  first  of  all  that  they  turn  for 
their  examples.  They  repeat  the  definition  given  by  the 
committee  of  the  New  York  State  Senate  in  relation  to 
trusts,  viz. :  that  trusts  are  monopolies — "  the  general  pur- 
poses and  effects  of  which  are  to  control  the  supply  of  such 
commodities  and  necessities,  destroy  competition,  regulate 
the  quantity,  and  to  keep  the  cost  to  the  consumer  of  such 
commodities  at  prices  far  beyond  their  fair  and  equitable 
value."  They  instance  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  and 
the  combination  of  "  coal  barons,"  they  cite  the  pool  of  the 
steel-rail  manufacturers,  who,  in  order  to  raise  prices  de- 
pressed by  over-production,  paid  the  owners  of  the  Vulcan 
works  at  St.  Louis  $400,000  annually  to  keep  them  closed — 
a  proceeding  which  assured  a  return  to  the  capital  invested 
while  it  deprived  the  workmen  of  their  wages.  Merchants 
or  producers  of  leather,  milk,  sugar,  caoutchouc,  glass,  etc., 
have  formed  combinations  whose  effects,  while  varying  in 
degree,  have  been  similar  in  kind  to  those  of  the  larger 
trusts. 

In  itself  the  trust  is  a  legitimate  form  of  voluntary  asso- 
ciation. But  it  is  possible  for  such  associations,  whether 
of  masters  or  workmen,  to  become  oppressive,  and  in  these 
cases  the  intervention  of  the  government,  charged  as  it  is 
with  the  protection  of  individual  rights  and  the  general 
interests  of  society,  is  legitimate.  Combinations  which  aim 
to  control  the  market,  and  which  oppress  the  merchant,  the 
laborer,  and  the  consumer,  are  reprehensible;  by  abusing 
their  powers,  some  of  these  have  instilled  grievances  in  the 
American  mind  against  the  very  principle  of  competition, 
which  in  itself  is  salutary.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to 
demarcate  the  just  limits  of  the  freedom  of  association,  but 
in  any  event,  trusts  are  very  unpopular.  The  labor-unions 
are  unanimous  in  protesting  against  them,  and  denounce 
them  as  one  cause  of  the  subjection  of  the  workingman. 
In  one  street  of  Philadelphia  I  saw  what  are  known  as 
"  human  sign-boards  "  walking  about  with  this  single  ad- 


66  The  American  Laborer 

vertisement  of  a  certain  brand  of  ink:  "Not  made  by  a 
trust." 

Consolidation  shows  itself  not  only  in  manufactures,  but 
also  in  transportation,  and  the  railroads  have  grouped  them- 
selves, either  by  purchase  or  fusion,  into  systems  more  ex- 
tensive than  in  France.32  In  the  cities,  the  department 
store  flourishes,  showing  that  concentration  is  also  going 
on  in  trade  and  commerce.  The  tendency  is,  in  fact, 
general. 

In  the  United  States  competition  has  free  play  throughout 
a  territory  almost  four-fifths  as  large  as  Europe.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  the  states  of  the  North  and 
East  had  a  practical  monopoly  of  large  manufactures,  and 
the  victorious  Republicans  framed  their  tariffs  with  the 
view  of  preserving  this  supremacy  by  excluding  foreign 
competition.  But  internal  competition  soon  arose  from 
the  states  of  the  middle  and  northern  Mississippi  valley, 
the  metallurgical  industry  and  the  manufacture  of  boots  and 
shoes  being  particularly  successful  in  these  sections  of  the 
country.  In  the  iron  and  textile  industries,  the  competi- 
tion of  the  Southern  States  is  now  making  itself  felt  in  the 
Northern  States. 

Industrial  improvements  illustrated. — To  describe  the  im- 
provements in  the  machinery,  agents  and  processes  of 
manufacture  which  have  modified  the  conditions  of  labor 
in  the  last  twenty  years,  it  would  be  necessary  to  write  the 
whole  industrial  history  of  that  period,  and  this  would  make 
an  encyclopedia.  I  shall  confine  myself  to  the  bare  men- 
tion of  one  or  two  improvements  in  the  textile  manufacture 
and  the  printing  industry. 

One  improvement  after  another  has  been  made  in  the 


32  The  total  length  of  the  Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee  railway  in 
1898  was  8.970  kilometers,  or  about  5,561  miles.  In  1809  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  operated  9,070  miles,  the  Northwestern  Line  8.275 
miles,  the  Chicago.  Burlington  and  Quincy  7.751  miles,  the  At- 
chison, Topeka  and  Sante  Fe  Railway  7.414  miles,  etc.  World  Al- 
manac, p.  205  ct  seq. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  67 

cotton  spindle.  Twenty  years  ago  the  average  speed33  of 
the  ordinary  spindle  was  not  more  than  5,500  revolutions  a 
minute.  This  was  increased  by  the  "  Sawyer  "  model  to 
7,500  revolutions,  and  by  the  "  Rabbeth  "  spindle  to  more 
than  9,000.  Five  "  Rabbeth  "  spindles  produce  more  than 
eight  ordinary  spindles,  using  the  same  amount  of  power. 
Allowing,  with  Mr.  Draper,  one  horsepower  for  each  hun- 
dred spindles,  and  assuming  that  the  number  of  spindles, 
new  and  old,  is  14,500,000,  it  is  found  that  the  substitution 
of  new  for  old  machines  would  effect  a  saving  of  40,000 
horsepower;  and  Air.  Draper  adds  that  there  would  also  be 
a  great  saving  of  labor,  as  the  new  machinery  does  not  re- 
quire so  much  attention  as  the  old.  By  a  hypothetical  and 
probably  exaggerated  calculation,  Mr.  Draper  estimates  at 
$50,000,000  the  reduction  in  the  present  expense  of  pro- 
duction.34 

The  introduction  of  the  ring-spinning  frame,  the  self- 
acting  mule,  and  the  mule  spindle  improved  by  the  self- 
centering  principle,35  has  not  only  secured  an  immense 
increase  of  speed  without  necessitating  an  increase  of  mo- 
tive-power, but  it  has  permitted  the  substitution  of  women 
for  men  in  the  factories.86 

The  power-loom,  of  which  there  are  many  varieties,  has 
also  received  many  improvements.     In  the  woolen   mills, 

33  The  speed  of  a  spindle  varies  with  the  number  of  the  yarn. 
Spinning  number  five  the  "  Rabbeth  "  makes  only  5,000  revolutions; 
spinning  number  forty,  the  "  Rabbeth  "  makes  9,200,  the  "  Sawyer  " 
7,500,  and  the  ordinary  spindle,  6,100  revolutions.  The  average  con- 
sumption of  cotton  per  spindle  was  70  pounds  in  1880  and  79  in 
1890.  In  the  South,  where  the  machinery  is  newer,  it  rose  to  161 
pounds  in  1890.  See  "  Manufacturing  Industries,"  Eleventh  Census, 
p.  169. 

34  Written  several  years  ago.  The  number  of  spindles  has  now  in- 
creased to  nearly  18,000,000. 

35  These  machines  have  been  made  with  1,100  spindles.  One  spin- 
ner and  a  helper  mind  two. 

36  In  wool  spinning,  the  substitution  since  1873  of  the  automatic 
mule  with  600  spindles,  for  the  "  handjack "  which  on  the  aver- 
age had  only  about  240,  has  brought  down  the  cost  of  manufacture 
about  50  per  cent. 


68  The  American  Laborer 

according  to  Mr.  North,  the  broad-looms  ran  at  45  picks 
per  minute  before  1857;  in  1890  these  looms  were  operated 
at  from  90  to  105  picks  per  minute.  When  I  was  in 
America  in  1876  they  pointed  out  to  me  as  a  curiosity,  a 
woman  in  the  Merrimack  mills  who  tended  seven  calico 
looms,  four  in  front  and  three  behind.  Most  of  the  oper- 
atives ran  four,  or  six.  I  was  scarcely  believed  when  I 
related  the  occurrence  in  France.3'  In  the  same  factory, 
in  1893,  I  saw  one  whole  row  of  women  minding  eight 
looms  apiece,  four  in  front  and  four  behind.  The  majority 
of  the  operatives  ran  four  or  six.  All  the  larger  factories 
are  run  in  the  same  way.  In  Nashua  I  found  the  operatives 
running  two,  four,  or  six  looms,  according  to  the  kind  of 
goods  and  the  skill  of  the  weaver.  The  three-quarter 
cotton  looms  run  at  about  180  picks  and  the  four-quarter 
looms  at  about  145  picks  per  minute.  This  is  about  the 
same  speed  obtained  in  Europe,  but  in  France  one  opera- 
tive minds  only  two  looms.  In  the  factory  at  Lawrence 
the  cloth  looms  speed  faster  than  in  Europe  (105  picks  per 
minute).  In  the  investigation  made  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor  I  find  the  following  account  of  the  distribution  of 
looms  in  one  factory:  15  operatives  ran  four,  17  ran  five, 
126  ran  six,  one  ran  seven,  and  18  ran  eight,  looms  apiece.33 
In  the  silk  manufacture  in  Paterson  the  Swiss  loom  has 
been  replaced  by  the  American  "  Knowler  "  loom.  Some 
of  these  throw  from  80  to  150  wefts  a  minute,  make  very 

37  In  the  reports  of  the  delegates  to  the  Chicago  fair  occurs  the 
following  passage  in  reference  to  the  factory  in  Pawtucket:  "  What 
struck  the  delegates  from  the  textile  industries  was  the  fact,  con- 
trary to  French  custom,  that  the  operators  mind  six  looms  on 
ordinary    goods    and    four    on    those    which    require    more    care." 

38 1  learn  from  Messrs.  Draper's  Sons  of  Hopedale,  under  the 
date  of  September  17,  1896,  that  in  the  factory  of  the  Queen  City 
Cotton  Co.  of  Burlington,  Vt.,  twelve  weavers  each  mind  20,  and 
one  weaver  28,  Northrup  looms  working  on  calico  for  the  size 
64x64;  that  in  the  Merrimack  Manufacturing  Co.'s  works  each  op- 
erative minds  16  Northrup  looms,  that  each  loom  of  this  kind  pro- 
duces more  than  an  ordinary  loom  and  that  the  fabrics  are  of  good 
quality. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  69 

uniform  fabrics  and  are  very  sensible  to  defects.  The  rib- 
bon-looms are  much  larger  than  in  France  and  weave  six- 
teen or  eighteen  pieces  at  one  time. 

For  several  years  past,  the  type-setting  machine  has 
been  in  general  use  in  printing  offices.  The  effect  of  this 
machine  will  be  a  further  concentration  of  the  printing  in- 
dustry at  certain  points,  and  it  has  already  had  a  disquiet- 
ing effect  upon  printers  by  reducing  the  demand  for  their 
services.  From  a  report  prepared  in  1893  covering  seventy 
cities,  it  appeared  that  999  machines  were  in  operation  in 
132  offices,  and  that  the  introduction  of  the  machines  had 
reduced  the  aggregate  force  employed  from  3,461  regulars 
and  1,888  helpers,  to  2,201  regulars  and  412  helpers. 
Typographical  Union  Number  6  has  published  a  statement 
in  which  the  displacement  of  labor  caused  by  these  ma- 
chines was  estimated  at  about  twenty-three  per  cent.383-  The 
rapidity  of  composition  is  much  greater  than  by  the  old 
process  if  there  are  not  many  corrections  made  in  the  proof. 
Instead  of  1,000,  a  compositor  now  sets  3,700  ems  per  hour. 

The  inventive  genius  of  the  Americans. — Among  other 
causes  of  the  great  mechanical  development  in  America, 
I  have  cited  the  enterprising  spirit  and  the  inventive  genius 
of  the  American  people.  They  are  very  proud  of  these 
traits.  A  few  years  ago  one  of  their  economists,  Mr,.  Jacob 
Schoenhof,  expressed  himself  as  follows  in  his  interesting 
book,  The  Economy  of  High  Wages:  "  If  one  has  made  it 
an  object  to  examine  the  tools  and  other  automatic  ma- 
chinery and  the  working  methods  in  the  metal  and  ma- 
chine industries  of  this  country,  and  has  made  parallel  ob- 
servations in  Europe,  he  can  hardly  help  speaking  in  words 
of  admiration  of  the  genius  of  our  people,  who,  impelled 

38a  In  his  testimony  before  the  Industrial  Commission,  President 
Donnelly  of  the  International  Typographical  Union  expressed  the 
opinion  that  in  another  year,  if  present  conditions  continue,  the 
displacement  of  labor  due  to  the  linotype  machine  will  have  dis- 
appeared, or  in  other  words,  that  as  many  compositors  will  be  em- 
ployed as  before  the  introduction  of  the  machine.     [Tr.] 


70  The  American  Laborer 

by  causes  already  discussed,  have  worked  from  the  most 
difficult  beginnings  into  fields  never  trodden  before,  where 
a  tariff  could  hinder,  but  never  could  help."  : 

There  is,  in  fact,  no  other  country  in  which  so  many 
patents  are  applied  for,  and  where,  in  spite  of  the  severe  pre- 
liminary examination,  so  many  patents  are  granted,  as  the 
United  States.  In  1890,  41,048  applications  were  received 
and  26,292  patents  issued.  In  France  7,634  were  granted 
in  that  year.  As  is  shown  in  the  following  table,  the  num- 
ber doubled  in  the  twenty  years  1870- 1890: 

PATENTS    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

Tears.                                                   Applications.  Issued. 

1850 2,193  993 

1860 7,653  4,084 

1870 19,171  13,333 

1875 21,638  14,837 

1880 23,012  13,947 

1885 35,717  24,233 

1890 41,048  26,292 

1895 40,680  22,057 

1899 41,443  25,527 

On  the  first  of  January,  1900,  more  than  650,000  patents, 
excluding  designs,  re-issues,  trade-marks,  had  been  issued 
by  the  United  States,  most  of  which  were  for  improvements 
on  carriages  and  wagons,  stoves,  furnaces,  harvesters, 
lamps,  boot  and  shoe  machinery,  etc.  In  1894,  16,372 
patents  became  public  property,  12,920  by  expiring,  3,812 
by  default  of  payment. 

All  these  are  not  necessarily  American  inventions;  many 
of  them  originate  in  Europe.  But  the  Americans  are  quick 
to  take  up  a  novelty  and  like  to  believe  that  it  originated 
with  them.  Nevertheless  they  have  given  the  world  many 
beautiful  inventions,  particularly  in  machinery  and  elec- 
tricity, in  which  they  have  the  reputation,  not  undeserved, 
of  being  supreme.  Their  system  of  preliminary  examina- 
tion seems  to  give  more  security  than  the  French  system. 

30  Page  224. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  71 

They  promptly  patent  the  slightest  improvement,  often 
with  the  sole  object  of  forcing  its  purchase  by  the  inventor 
of  the  original  machine.40 

The  desire  to  economize  human  effort  by  the  use  of  ma- 
chinery is  shown  in  the  smallest  as  in  the  largest  matters. 
In  all  the  large  residences  and  factories  of  recent  construc- 
tion, the  elevator  replaces  the  stairway;  almost  all  commer-  s/ 
cial  houses  and  many  private  individuals  conduct  their 
correspondence  on  the  typewriter,  and  the  use  of  the  tele- 
phone, which  saves  so  many  steps  and  so  much  time,  is 
far  more  extensive  than  in  France. 

I  had  scarcely  arrived  in  New  York  when  the  extent  of 
this  feeling  was  revealed  to  me  by  two  trivial  incidents.  I 
saw  two  men  sanding  a  street-railway.  One  drove  the 
wagon,  which  was  running  in  the  car  tracks,  the  other 
manipulated  a  lever  which  opened  and  closed  a  vent  through 
which  the  sand  flowed  like  water  from  a  watering-cart. 
The  same  feeling  is  manifested  on  the  trains  of  the  elevated 
railroad,  on  which  the  stops  are  very  short.  The  con- 
ductor, I  noticed,  opened  and  shut  the  doors  automatically, 
by  means  of  a  lever,  and  in  this  way,  one  conductor  was 
enough  for  two  cars. 

Some  time  ago  I  found  myself  at  Berne  in  the  company 
of  Mr.  Hollerith,  the  American  inventor  of  an  ingenious 
machine  for  tabulating  statistical  returns.  He  was, watch- 
ing four  men  hoist  stones  by  turning  a  large  wheel  like 
squirrels  in  a  cage,  and  he  could  not  get  over  his  astonish- 
ment. "  I  would  like  to  have  a  camera  in  order  to  get  a 
photograph  of  that,"  he  said;  "  they  will  not  believe  me  in 
America  if  I  tell  about  it." 

40  "  The  patent  system  may  here  be  cited  as  a  factor  in  our  indus- 
trial system.  It  has  been  carried  to  an  almost  absurd  extreme,  so 
that  it  is  not  safe  for  any  one  to  adopt  a  new  method,  machine  or 
part  of  a  machine  and  attempt  to  use  it  quietly  and  without  taking 
out  a  patent  lest  some  sharp  person,  seeing  it  in  use  and  not  pub- 
lished, shall  himself  secure  the  patent  and  come  back  to  the  real 
inventor  with  a  claim  for  royalty."  Ed.  Atkinson,  in  "  Cotton 
Manufactures,"  p.  10,  Tenth  Census. 


72  The  American  Laborer 

The  American  people  have  the  same  superb  confidence  in 
the  superiority  of  their  civilization  that  they  have  in  their 
inventive  genius.  Some  time  ago  UEconomiste  Franqais 
reproduced  a  passage  from  a  mining  journal  of  Montana, 
which,  wishing  to  prove  that  the  United  States  could  adopt 
the  free  coinage  of  silver  without  regard  to  the  decision  of 
Europe,  said:  "  We  are  the  first  nation  of  the  globe;  to  our 
inventive  genius  the  world  owes  the  steamboat,  the  tele- 
graph, the  telephone.  Without  us,  Europe  would  be  grov- 
elling in  the  barbarism  of  the  middle  ages."  4  This  senti- 
ment, which  is  a  better  proof  of  the  national  vanity  than 
of  the  writer's  learning,  is  continually  being  revealed  in  the 
conversation  and  writings  of  the  Americans;  discreetly  by 
those  who  have  visited  Europe,  brutally  by  the  mass  of  the 
people  and  the  newspapers,  particularly  the  newspapers  of 
the  far  West.  I  recall  having  seen  at  the  Centennial  Ex- 
position a  painting  of  sixteen  scenes,  which  represented 
by  as  many  episodes  the  history  of  civilization.  In  the  first 
group  man  was  seen  terrified  by  lightning,  by  religious 
superstition,  by  feudal  tyranny,  and  the  tortures  of  the  In- 
quisition: this  was  the  part  of  the  Old  World.  In  the  sec- 
ond group  appeared  Franklin  with  his  kite,  and  Professor 
Henry,  of  Washington,  preparing  a  telegraphic  apparatus 
(with  not  a  sign  of  Ampere):  this  was  the  part  of  the  New 
World.  Success  intoxicates;  this  young  nation  has  grown 
so  much  in  a  century  that  it  may  be  excused  for  believing 
that  its  greatness  is  unequalled. 

The  inventive  genius  of  the  American  is  perhaps  a  nat- 
ural gift,  but  it  has  certainly  been  stimulated  by  the  rate  of 
wages.  We  shall  see  in  another  chapter  that  for  a  long 
while  the  rate  of  wages  has  been  relatively  high. 

The  higher  the  price  of  labor,  the  greater  will  be  the  effort 
of  the  entrepreneur  to  economize  in  its  use.  Moreover, 
when  machinery  has  made  the  laborer  more  productive, 
it  is  possible  to  pay  him  a  higher  wage.     An  increase  of  one 


U  Economiste  Franqais,  October,  1895. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  73 

dollar  in  the  cost  of  labor  distributed  over  ioo  units  of  pro- 
duct, means  an  increase  of  only  one  cent  per  unit;  distrib- 
uted over  ten  units  it  causes  a  rise  of  ten  cents  in  the  price 
per  unit.  A  manufacturer  considering  the  purchase  of  a 
machine  which  will  cost  $10,000  and  replace  four  laborers, 
but  which  must  pay  for  itself  in  ten  years,  will  not  hesitate 
to  make  the  purchase  in  a  country  where  wages  are  $500 
per  annum:  here  the  machine  will  effect  a  saving  of  $1,000 
per  annum.  A  manufacturer  in  a  country  where  wages  are 
$200  cannot  use  the  machine,  however,  because  it  would 
cause  an  annual  loss  of  $200.42 

The  productivity  of  the  machine. — That  machinery  makes 
production  more  rapid  and  abundant  follows  from  what  I 
have  already  stated;  these  are  results  not  open  to  con- 
troversy; they  constitute  the  very  raison  d'etre  of  the  ma- 
chine. Adam  Smith  calculated  that  one  man  working  alone 
and  without  machinery  could  not  possibly  make  twenty  pins 
a  day,  while  in  the  small  pin-manufactory,  which  he  se- 
lected to  illustrate  the  advantages  of  the  division  of  labor, 
ten  men  with  a  little  machinery  and  specialized  work  could 
together  produce  48,000  pins  a  day.43  Mr.  Schoenhof  takes 
up  the  same  illustration  and  cites  a  Connecticut  factory  in 
which  70  machines,  directed  by  one  machinist,  three  opera- 
tives and  one  boy,  produce  daily  7,500,000  pins,  all  placed 
in  the  papers  and  ready  for  sale.  A  hundred  years  ago, 
they  boasted  that  in  one  day  a  single  workman  could 
make  4,800  pins;  to-day  one  man  makes  a  million  and  a 


42  The  tabulating  machine  of  Mr.  Hollerith,  for  example,  was 
used  with  economy  and  success  in  preparing  the  reports  of  the 
Eleventh  Census  at  Washington.  But  the  employees  were  paid 
$2  and  $2.50  per  day  in  Washington.  In  Vienna  and  Rome  where 
wages  are  much  lower,  the  experience  with  the  machine  was  not 
so  favorable.  It  seems,  however,  that  there  is  a  future  for  this 
kind  of  machine  where  the  work  to  be  done  is  very  extensive. 

43  Although  the  factory  of  which  Adam  Smith  spoke  was  but  "  in- 
differently provided  with  the  necessary  machinery,"  it  was  better 
than  those  depicted  in  the  engravings  of  the  encyclopedia  of  Di- 
derot and  d'Alembert. 


74  The  American  Laborer 

half.  The  difference  is  typical.44  In  a  recent  investigation 
made  by  the  Department  of  Labor,  it  was  ascertained  that 
one  pound  of  pins  which  cost  $5.32  to  make  by  hand,  could 
now  be  manufactured  for  a  little  less  than  26  cents.40 

The  manufacture  of  nails,  which  presents  a  certain  anal- 
ogy to  that  of  pins,  can  be  followed  with  more  detail.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  machines  had  already  begun 
to  be  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  nails,  in  particular 
the  Perkins  machine,  invented  in  1790,  and  patented  five 
years  later.  This  machine  was  propelled  by  the  right  hand 
and  foot  of  the  operator,  while  the  nail  iron  was  manipu- 
lated by  the  left  hand.  It  was  capable  of  producing  200,- 
000  nails  a  day,  but  a  second  operation  was  necessary  to 
make  the  head.  "  At  the  end  of  the  century  twenty-three 
patents  had  been  granted  for  improvements  in  nail  ma- 
chines." This  number  had  increased  very  considerably  by 
1835,  as  the  manufacture  by  machinery  had  developed 
rapidly  and  driven  out  the  hand  process.  The  Perkins  and 
the  Odiorne  machines  were  soon  abandoned,  as  they  cost  a 
great  deal  to  keep  in  repair.  They  were  both  superseded 
by  the  Reed  machine  which  was  very  efficient,  especially 
after  it  had  been  perfected  by  Melville  Otis. 

But  another  machine,  making  nails  of  wire  instead  of 
plate-iron,  appeared  in  1851.  Wire  nails,  however,  did  not 
commence  to  succeed  until  after  the  introduction  of  three 
machines  from  Germany  in  1871,  and  they  did  not  seri- 
ously rival  the  cut  nail  until  after  1883.  In  1883  Bessemer 
steel  began  to  supplant  iron  in  the  manufacture  of  both 
kinds  of  nails.  At  the  present  day  a  workman,  instead  of 
laboriously  propelling  one  machine,  directs  the  operation 
of  eisflit   without   fatisrue.46     The   following   figures,    taken 


**  The  Economy  of  High  JJ'agcs,  p.  99. 

45  This  is  the  labor  cost  only.  See  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  vol.  i.  p.  63. 

48  In  1813,  20,900  four-penny  iron  cut  nails  (73  per  pound)  re- 
quired an  expenditure  of  236  hours  of  work,  distributed  among 
three  workmen,  and  the  labor  cost  was  $20.24.     In   1897,  the  same 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  75 

from  the  publications  of  the  American  Iron  and  Steel  Asso- 
ciation show  the  progress  and  the  change  that  have  resulted 
from  these  inventions.  The  production,  in  kegs  of  ioo 
pounds,  has  been  as  follows: 

Tears.  Cut  nails.  Wire  nails.  Total. 

1856 1,834,000         1,824,000 

1873 4,024,000         4,024,000 

1886 8,160,000  600,000  8,760,000 

1890 5,641,000  3,136,000  8,777,000 

1897 2,107,000  8,997,000  11,104,000 

1898 1,572,221  7,418,475  8,990,696 

In  1 886  about  five  per  cent,  of  American  nails  were  made 
of  steel;  at  the  present  time  almost  the  whole  amount  is 
made  of  steel,  and  the  quality  has  improved  greatly.  Al- 
though the  total  quantity  of  cut  nails  steadily  declined  from 
1 886  until  1897  the  price  also  fell.  If  we  carry  the  com- 
parison further  back,  to  the  period  of  the  Perkins  machine, 
this  fall  will  be  seen  to  be  enormous.  In  1818  a  pound  of 
nails  was  worth  from  18  to  37*^  cents;"  in  1892  the  price 
was  ^y2  cents  and  in  1893  less  than  2  cents.48 

In  Part  IV  of  his  Industrial  Evolution,  Col.  Wright  ad- 
duces various  proofs  of  the  superior  productivity  of  ma- 
chinery. In  one  western  manufactory  of  agricultural  ma- 
chinery, 600  workmen  now  produce  as  much  as  2,145  f°r~ 
merly  produced  without  the  present  machiney.  In  the 
manufacture  of  fire-arms  a  workman  could  formerly  make 
the  parts  of  one  gun  in  one  day;  now  three  men  make  the 
parts  of  130  guns  in  one  day.  Machinery  saves  80  per 
cent,  of  the  labor  in  the  manufacture  of  women's  shoes,  66 
per  cent,  in  the  manufacture  of  men's  shoes;  and  one  work- 
quantity  of  four-penny  nails  (209  per  pound)  required  less  than  two 
hours  work,  distributed  among  83  workmen,  the  labor  cost  being 
29  cents.  Thirteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
vol.  i,  pp.  60,  61. 

47  Iron  In  All  Ages,  p.  449. 

48  The  price  per  keg  in  Chicago  was  $5-49  in  1872;  $3.15  in  1887 
and  $1.49  in  1893.  See  Annual  Statistical  Report  of  the  American  Iron 
and  Steel  Association. 


76  The  American  Laborer 

man  with  the  McKay  machine  finishes  300  pairs  of  shoes 
where  he  would  finish  but  five,  working  by  hand.  A  large 
manufacturer  of  children's  shoes  in  Philadelphia  gave  Col. 
Wright  to  understand  that  only  one-sixth  of  the  former 
number  of  laborers  was  now  required,  and  prices  had  fallen 
about  fifty  per  cent  A  few  years  ago,  seventeen  good 
workmen  could  make  about  500  dozen  brooms  a  week; 
with  modern  machinery  nine  workmen  can  produce  1,200 
dozen,  To  refer  to  an  example  used  before,  the  hand- 
loom  used  to  weave  from  60  to  80  picks  a  minute;  the 
power-loom  weaves  180  and  the  weaver  tends  from  two  to 
six  looms,  according  to  the  kind  of  fabric.49  The  weaver 
directing  six  looms  produces  more  than  1.000  yards  a  week, 
while  the  hand-weaver  produced  about  45  yards.  Our 
grandmothers,  with,  the  spinning-wheel,  could  make  five 
bundles  of  yarn,  nine  skeins  each,  in  a  week,  working  56 
hours;  one  spinner,  with  two  boys  helping  him,  can  now 
spin  55,000  bundles  a  week  on  two  self-acting  mules.  On 
an  average  every  operative  tends  two  and  a  half  times  as 
many  spindles  now  as  in  183 1.  In  spinning,  the  difference 
is  prodigious.  In  the  investigation  of  hand  and  machine 
labor  made  by  the  Department  of  Labor,  it  was  shown  that 
the  production  of  100  pounds  of  sewing  thread  required 
2,875  hours  of  labor  in  1870,  costing  $86.85,  while  in  1896 
only  39  hours  and  17  minutes  were  required,  the  cost  be- 
ing $1.81.  In  other  words,  the  total  labor  cost  fell  from 
$86.85  to  $i-8 1,  while  the  cost  per  hour  rose  from  three 
cents  to  a  little  less  than  five  cents.50 

In  the  investigation  from  which  we  have  just  quoted,  a 
most  interesting  comparison  was  instituted  between  the 
respective  amounts  of  labor  necessary  to  produce  certain 
articles,  with  and  without  the  assistance  of  modern  ma- 
chinery. This  investigation  is  the  first,  to  my  knowledge, 
in  which  a  large  number  of  products61  has  been  scientifically 

"  I  did  not  see  any  female  operative  mind  more  than  8  looms. 
60  Thirteenth  Annual  Report,  vol.  i,  p.  41.     See  the  same  table  for 
the   statistics  quoted   in  the   immediately  succeeding  paragraphs. 
51  672  products  or  processes  are  included  in  the  final  report. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery 


77 


studied  with  this  object  in  view,  and  it  affords  ample  con- 
firmation of  what  has  already  been  stated  concerning  the 
productivity  of  machinery.  It  is  especially  valuable  for  the 
light  it  throws  upon  the  intimate  connection  between  the 
development  of  machinery  and  (i)  the  further  subdivision 
of  labor,  (2)  the  increased  rapidity  of  production,  (3)  the 
diminution  in  the  labor  time  necessary  to  produce  ordinary 
articles  of  consumption,  (4)  and  the  increase  in  the  price  of 
labor,  A  few  of  the  results  of  this  investigation  are  incor- 
porated in  the  following  table.  In  many  instances,  the 
article  as  produced  by  machine  and  hand  methods  was  not 
exactly  the  same;  the  use  of  machinery  usually  introduces 
slight  changes  in  appearance  and  quality.  But  careful 
efforts  have  been  made  to  eliminate  this  cause  of  error,  and 
where  the  two  articles  differed,  the  one  made  by  machine 
was  almost  always  superior.  The  original  table  contains 
full  descriptions  of  the  articles  mentioned,  which  it  has  not 
been  thought  necessary  to  include  here. 


PRODUCTION  BY  HAND  AND  MACHINE. 


a 
<~i  0 

a  3 

VQ 

tH  O 
^  U 

c 

si 

«s2 

0  0    . 

+^   EE  0> 

■a  ay 

5« 

III 

Time 
worked. 

3          5. 

0 

u 
0 

a 
a 

*>   . 

<r.  O 

8* 

Plows, 

11 

2 

1,180 

$54.46 

$0,046 

1896 

Wheat, 

...      97 

52 

37 

28 

7.90 

0.21 

1829- 

■30 

Hand 

8 

4 

61 

5 

3.55 

0.058 

1895- 

■96 

Corn, 

5 

6 

3 

19 

0.66 

0.21 

1855 

Hand 

,  .       15 

6 

182 

40 

14.31 

0.078 

1894 

Tobacco, 

...       15 

23 

27 

30 

0.15 

1853 

22 

4 

311 

23 

23.35 

0.074 

1895 

Butter, 

?0 

10 

1-  > 

54 

25.12 

0.099 

1866 

3 

125 

10.67 

0.085 

1897 

7 

8 

7 

12 

20 

t.78 

0.14 

78  The  American  Laborer 


production  bt  hand  and  machine — Continued. 


Time 
c-ri     eg©  worked. 


8  I 

s8 


Cheese, 

1840               Hand 8  1  75  . .                 7.50       0.10 

1896  Machine 14  3  5  24                  .85       0.16 

Apples  (canned), 

1871               Hand 16  95  653  20              35.53       0.054 

1894  Machine 14  79  234  ■■               21.58       0.092 

Axles, 

1850               Hand 6  2  466  40               56.93       0.12 

1897  Machine 24  33  43  25                8.20       0.19 

Buggies, 

1865               Hand 64  6  200  25               45.67       0.227 

1895  Machine 72  116  39  8                8.09       0.207 

Wagons, 

1848               Hand 37  5  242  ..               35.35       0.14 

1895  Machine 63  75  48  17                7.19       0.15 

Watch  movements, 
Hand 453  14  241,866  10        80,822.09       0.33 

1896  Machine 1,088  .  .  .  8,243  5S        1  ,799.59       0.21 

Coats, 

Hand 22  6  3,301  43             803.91       0.24 

1895               Machine 28  71  1,375  20             261.83       0.19 

Cottonades, 

1893               Hand 19  3  7,534  1             135.61       0.018 

1895               Machine 43  252  84  14                 6.81       0.080 

Shirts, 

1853               Hand   25  1  1,439  ..              180.00       0.12 

1895               Machine 39  230  188  ..               34-21       0.18 

Boots, 

1859               Hand 83  2  1,436  40             408.50       0.28 

1895  Machine 122  113  154  5               35-40 

Shoes, 

1875               Hand 102  1  1,996  40             499.17       0.25 

1896  Machine 140  140  173  29              54.60       0.31 

Nails, 

1813               Hand 3  3  236  25               20.24       0.086 

1897  Machine 20  83  1  0.29       0.13 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  79 


•Z2 
S3 

*! 

Pi 

,8* 

£§ 

«4g 
Bread, 

t  °  £ 

.vV  o 

5  ° 

1897 

Hand 

11 

1897 

Carpet, 

...      16 

1850 

Hand 

...       15 

1895 

Bedsteads, 

...      41 

1866 

...       15 

1897 

Bureaus, 

. ..       35 

1866 

Hand 

...       IS 

1896 

Chairs, 

...       21 

1860 

Hand 

...       12 

1895 

Gloves, 

...     u 

1895 

Hand 

10 

i<§95 

Gold  balls, 

, .  .       16 

1865 

5 

23S6 

Marble  slabs, 

11 

1852 

Hand , 

1 

1S95 

Needles, 

S 

1851 

...       18 

1895 

Doors, 

, .  .      27 

1895 

Hand 

...       12 

1895 

Cigarettes, 

20 

1880 

Hand 

11 

1895 

Loading:  ore, 

...       IS 

1891 

Hand 

1 

1896 

3 

iXD  MACHINE 

—  Contin 

ued. 

c  a  a 

feS.2 
a  5;  c 

5|a 

Time 
worked. 

§      § 

5         § 

0 

0 

B 
oO 

►J 

u 

0>     • 

to  O 
gjS 

O 

l 

28 

5.60 

0.20 

22 

8 

56 

1.55 

0.18 

18 

4,047 

30 

270.01 

0.06 

<?i 

505 

2 

91.26 

0.15 

5 

571 

141.90 

0.25 

52 

4* 

6 

6.07 

0. 15 

l 

443 

110.75 

0.25 

56 

108 

^0 

21.72 

0.20 

4 

114 

17.10 

0.15 

23 

^0 

57 

4.75 

0.11 

6 

25 

34 

1.80 

0.07 

16 

10 

23 

1.98 

0.  20 

4 

31 

24 

11.04 

0.35 

11 

20 

32 

1.71 

0.16 

2 

6,000 

500.00 

0.083 

3 

22 

10 

2.39 

0.21 

4 

906 

133.24 

0.14 

57 

19 

3.75 

0.2.9 

1 

541 

40 

108.33 

0.20 

5 

49 

50 

7.48 

0. 15 

27 

990 

5 

97.45 

0.098 

18 

14S 

53 

11.4S 

0.077 

1 

200 

40.00 

0.20 

20 

> 

51 

0.55 

o.ss 

80  The  American  Laborer 

These  twenty-nine  random  citations  are  convincing  upon 
certain  points.  With  a  few  rare  exceptions,  the  number  of 
operations  increased  after  machinery  was  introduced;  the 
number  of  workmen  increased  in  a  still  greater  degree,  be- 
cause the  use  of  machinery  almost  invariably  causes  a 
further  subdivision  of  labor,  and  in  many  instances,  a  hand 
tool  operated  by  a  single  workman  has  been  replaced  by  a 
machine  which  requires  a  very  large  number  of  operators. 
These  effects  are  well  illustrated  in  the  manufacture  of 
plows,  in  which  the  number  of  workmen  increased  from 
2  to  52,  in  the  manufacture  of  shirts  (increase  from  1  to 
230),  buggies  (from  6  to  116),  needles  (from  4  to  57),  bureaus 
(from  1  to  36),  nails  (from  3  to  83).  Even  more  striking, 
in  view  of  the  increase  in  the  number  of  workmen,  is  the 
diminution  in  the  total  labor  time.  In  the  manufacture  of 
plows  the  labor  time  decreased  from  1,180  hours  to  37 
hours,  watch-movements  from  241,866  to  8,243,  cottonades 
from  7,534  to  84,  women's  shoes  from  1,996  to  173,  marble 
slabs  from  6,000  to  11,  and  needles  from  906  to  19  hours. 
Tobacco-growing  constitutes  a  striking  exception  to  the 
general  rule.  Since  1844  the  cost  of  raising  1,200  pounds 
of  leaf  tobacco  has  increased  from  $5.97  to  $30.23,  owing 
to  the  increase  in  wages.52  On  the  other  hand  the  produc- 
tion of  plows  by  machinery  costs  only  about  one-seventh  as 
much  as  by  hand,  nails  about  one-sixtieth,  marble  slabs 
about  one-two-hundredths,  and  the  production  of  watch- 
movements,  an  industry  that  has  been  revolutionized  by 
machinery,  less  than  one-fortieth.  Tobacco  and  gloves  are 
the  only  exceptions  noted. 

Machinery,  then,  is  the  principal  cause  of  low  prices. 
With  modern  machinery,  to  take  a  single  illustration, 
10,000  copies  of  a  sixteen-page  newspaper  can  be  printed 
in  4  hours  and  39  minutes,  while  on  the  hand-press,  the 

62  It  is  stated  in  the  report,  pp.  92  and  93,  that  the  peculiarities  of 
this  return  can  be  accounted  for  only  on  the  supposition  that  at  the 
later  epoch  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  season  necessitated  much 
more  cultivation.     [Tr.] 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  81 

work  would  have  taken  766  hours  of  labor  time.  In  this 
instance,  as  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  remarks,  machinery 
acts  as  a  powerful  educational  influence  by  making  possible 
the  publication  of  the  penny  newspaper.  It  is  to  machinery 
in  particular  that  we  owe  that  phenomenon  which,  in  my 
book  on  Political  Economy,  I  had  called  "  the  economic 
paradox;"  the  phenomenon  of  falling  prices  in  industries 
in  which  wages,  profits,  and  the  price  of  the  raw  material, 
are  all  advancing. 

Finally,  the  results  of  the  investigation  justify  the  con- 
clusion that  the  general  effect  of  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery upon  wages,  is  beneficial.  Out  of  29  examples, 
selected  without  any  reference  to  this  aspect  of  the  question, 
there  are  29  which  show  an  increase,  against  1 1  which  show 
a  diminution,  in  the  cost  of  labor  per  hour.  And  in  gen- 
eral, the  relative  increase  is  much  greater  than  the  relative 
diminution. 

Mr.  Schoenhof  has  also  gathered  a  great  deal  of  evidence 
of  the  productivity  of  machines,  in  his  book  on  high  wages. 
He  compares  the  nail-makers  of  the  English  "  black  coun- 
try," who  make  two  shillings  in  fourteen  hours,  with  the 
Pittsburg  nailer  who  makes  $5  in  a  day  of  ten  hours.  "  The 
English  nailer  earns  from  10  s.  to  12  s.  a  week.  If  helped 
by  a  lad,  the  combined  earnings  do  not  exceed  16  s.  or 
$3.87.  An  American  nailer,  employed  in  a  Pittsburg  nail 
mill,  gave  me  $5  a  day  as  a  fair  average  of  a  nailer's  earn- 
ings, and  $1.50  for  the  feeder,  or  some  $30  a  week  for  the 
nailer  alone.  But  we  have  here  an  output  of  over  two  tons 
and  a  half  against  barely  two  hundredweight  in  England. 
Twenty  times  the  output  against  ten  times  the  wages  still 
leaves  a  comfortable  margin  of  100  per  cent,  in  favor  of  the 
new  method  .  .  .  and  still  at  his  2  s.  a  day  he  [the  English 
nail-maker]  does  not  turn  out  the  work  as  cheaply  by  a 
great  deal  as  this  remarkable  combination  of  intellectual 
and  mechanical  force  does  under  the  American  labor 
system."  M 

63  The  Economy  of  High  Wages,  pp.  226  and  398. 


82  The  American  Laborer 

Productivity  of  the  laborer. — In  support  of  the  thesis  that 
"  high  wages  represent  low  cost  of  production,"  Mr.  Ed- 
ward Atkinson  relates  that  a  German  steamer  from  Bremen 
having  been  badly  damaged,  was  docked  in  New  York  for 
repairs.  When  the  owners  in  Bremen  learned  the  initial 
costs,  they  became  frightened  at  the  rate  of  wages  and  or- 
dered "  the  steamer  back  to  Bremen  for  the  completion  of 
repairs.  .  .  .  But  it  was  too  late;  the  work  had  begun  and 
it  was  necessary  to  finish  it  in  New  York.  When  the  final 
account  of  the  sum  of  wages  was  sent  to  Bremen,  it  proved 
to  be  a  less  amount  than  the  same  repairs  would  have  cost 
in  Bremen."  54 

From  my  balcony,  while  I  was  in  the  hospital  in  Boston, 
I  watched  some  brickrayers  opposite  repairing  a  wall.  The 
bricks  were  carried  to  the  bricklayer  by  a  hod-carrier,  and 
cleaned  below,  by  a  third  laborer.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
the  work  would  prove  very  expensive  at  the  rate  of  wages  I 
knew  they  were  paying.  I  believe  that  I  was  not  mistaken 
in  my  inference,  because  they  were  working  at  repairs,  but 
it  is  necessary  to  avoid  hasty  generalizations.  When  I 
spoke  of  the  occurrence  to  a  French  manufacturer  in  Phila- 
delphia, formerly  located  at  Lyons,  he  said:  "These  work- 
men work  conscientiously  and  quickly;  I  have  done  some 
building  here  and  I  do  not  believe  that  my  expenses  were 
any  greater  here  than  they  would  have  been  in  Lyons." 
Afterwards  I  noticed,  in  those  cities  which  I  visited  twice, 
how  quickly  the  buildings  of  brick  and  steel  ran  up.  But 
there  is  in  every  case  a  limit  which  is  only  learned  by  ex- 
perience; it  is  certain  that  the  cost  of  building  has  increased 
in  the  great  cities  of  the  United  States. 

"  They  pay  you  well  here,  but  you  have  to  work  hard," 

said  an   Alsatian   iron-worker,   one   of  the  head  workmen 

in  a  large  iron-works.     I  was  able  to  verify  the  truth  of  this 

statement   almost   everywhere,  in   the   hand-trades   as   well 

n     as   in  the   great   manufactories.     The   speed  at  which  the 

54  The  Distribution  of  Products,  p.  61. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  83 

tailors  work  in  the  sweat-shops  of  New  York  seemed  as 
bewildering  as  that  of  the  butchers  in  the  Armour  packing 
house,  who  kill  5,800  hogs  a  day,  or  as  that  of  the  rolling- 
mills  which  make  100  tons  of  rails  in  a  day  The  machine 
is  fast  and  it  sets  the  pace.  In  one  of  his  reports  Mr.  v 
Schoenhof  told  of  an  American  mill  that  had  changed  all 
its  machinery  in  order  to  increase  the  speed  from  5,000  to 
7,500  revolutions  a  minute.  An  English  silk-throwster, 
having  read  the  account,  told  Mr.  Schoenhof  that  if  he  in- 
stalled such  machinery  in  his  mills,  all  his  girls  would  quit. 
And  yet  to-day  some  of  the  American  mills  run  their  ma- 
chines at  a  speed  of  10,000  or  even  13,000  turns  a  minute." 

Even  when  the  machinery  plays  a  secondary  role  the 
men  work  quickly  and  no  time  is  lost.  Competition  re- 
quires fast  work.  The  employer,  knowing  what  to  ex- 
pect, demands  the  worth  of  his  money,  and  will  not  tolerate 
an  idler. 

In  the  Senate  Report  upon  "  Labor  and  Capital,"  a  mule- 
spinner  of  Fall  River,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts legislature,  and  who  was  then  secretary  of  a  labor 
organization,  said  that  he  had  worked  in  England  for  up- 
wards of  seventeen  years,  and  that  in  his  opinion  the  cotton- 
spinner  was  in  a  far  better  condition  in  England  than  in 
America,  "  because  the  manufacturers  there  don't  appear/ 
to  be  so  desirous  of  working  the  men  so  much  like  horses  V 
or  slaves  as  they  do  in  our  State — they  don't  work  a{ 
the  same  extraordinary  rate  of  speed  that  we  do  in  Fall 
River.  There  they  give  a  man  a  pair  of  mules,  that  is, 
cotton-spinning  frames,  and  they  give  a  man  an  assistant 
to  work  between  the  mules  with  him,  and  also  an  assistant 
to  work  on  the  back  of  the  mules ;  but  in  this  country  it  is 
a  very  peculiar  fact  (but  I  know  it  is  so,  with  the  exception 
of  one  or  two  places)  that  however  large  the  mules  may  be, 
no  matter  how  many  spindles  they  may  contain,  the  em- 
ployers will  not  come  down  to  the  same  policy  adopted  in 

55  The  Economy  of  High  Wages,  p.  39. 


84  The  American  Laborer 

England.  They  insist  on  one  man  running  the  mule  with 
only  one  little  assistant  to  go  behind  it.  .  .  ,.  There  is  not 
as  much  labor  put  upon  one  man  there  as  there  is  in  our 
city,  and  our  machinery  goes  at  a  higher  rate  of  speed." 

"Question:  'Then  mule  for  mule,  Fall  River  produces 
more  cloth?'     Answer:   'Yes.'" 

In  the  same  investigation  a  tailor  who,  as  a  boy  in  Eng- 
land, had  been  successively  miner,  farm-laborer,  and  tailor's 
apprentice,  and  who  was  then  secretary  of  the  Working- 
men's  Union  in  New  York,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the 
condition  of  the  miner  was  better  in  England  than  America, 
/  because  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  amount  of  work  per- 
formed in  a  day  are  less  in  England  than  America.  "  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  carpenters,  bricklayers,  and  plas- 
terers there.  For  instance,  the  number  of  brick  to  be  laid 
per  day  per  man  in  New  York,  is  about  500  more  than 
in  London,  Manchester,  Dublin,  or  Glasgow.  I  have  lived 
in  all  these  cities.  The  hours  of  labor,  too,  are  shorter  in 
England.  .  .  .  And  I  think  I  can  say  fearlessly  that  the 
[general]  intelligence  of  the  skilled  mechanic  in  England  is 
better  than  the  intelligence  of  the  skilled  mechanic  in 
America." 

Several  of  the  labor-delegates  to  the  Chicago  fair  also 
reported  that  the  workmen  had  a  very  great  deal  to  do, 
and  had  no  time  to  talk  or  loaf.  "  In  the  machine  shops," 
says  one,  "There  is  no  hurly-burly,  no  running-about;  each 
workman  keeps  his  place,  although  the  discipline  is  not 
harsher  than  in  France,"  68 

An  old  pupil  of  the  Ecole  d'Arts  et  Metiers  at  Aix,  who 
has  been  working  as  a  machinist  in  America  for  several 
years,  gave  me  the  testimony  of  his  experience  in  this 
matter.  "  The  American  workman,"  he  said,  "  is  consci- 
J  entious,  active,  will  not  leave  his  place  to  talk,  and  knows 
how  to  use  a  machine,  which  he  handles  like  a  mechanic, 
not  like  a   day-laborer.     Thus  in   making  cog-wheels,  for 

.  36  Rapports  de  la  delegation  ouvriere,  p.  418. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  85 

instance,  it  is  not  rare  to  see  him  alter  the  drawing  he  has 
before  him,  although  he  goes  to  the  foreman  in  this  case, 
who  generally  decides  in  his  favor.  He  is  given  great  lib- 
erty in  the  mode  of  executing  his  orders.  If  he  invents 
anything,  the  employer  ordinarily  encourages  him."  Some- 
times the  employer  buys  the  invention  in  order  to  take  a 
patent  out  in  his  own  name.  Specialization  pushed  so  very 
far  facilitates  inventions  for  the  smallest  details  of  produc- 
tion, because  the  attention  of  the  intelligent  workman  is 
constantly  fixed  upon  the  same  process." 

The  quality  of  American  workmanship. — The  machine  does 
not  work  like  the  hand  of  man.  Its  power  is  infinite;  its 
speed,  incomparably  greater;  it  has  a  regularity  and  pre- 
cision that  the  hand  and  eye  seldom,  if  ever,  attain.  But 
its  work  is  monotonously  uniform,  and  lacks  the  variety, 
the  spontaneity,  the  meaningful  delicacy  imparted  by  the 
mind  of  the  workman.  It  remains  then  to  strike  a  balance 
between  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  machine, 
as  we  have  just  done  with  the  conditions  of  labor  in 
America. 

In  the  production  of  ordinary  consumption  goods,  inter- 
changeable mechanism  and  articles  of  great  size  or  weight, 
machinery  has  many  advantages,  and  in  most  cases  its  su- 
periority is  now  recognized.  At  the  present  time  the 
Americans  are  better  equipped  to  produce  quickly  and  in 
large  quantities  than  any  other  people,  and  accordingly,  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  refute  Mr.  Schoenhofs  thesis:  "that, 
barring  slight  exceptions,  our  labor  is  as  cheap  in  all  lead- 
ing articles,  which  supply  the  necessaries  of  life,  the  cloth- 
ing, implements,  etc.,  of  our  people,  as  the  labor  of  any 
other  nation,"  True  enough,  the  manufacturers  of  this 
same  country  never  cease  to  repeat  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  them  to  resist  foreign  competition  if  it  were  not 
for  the  protection  of  the  tariff.  But,  then,  America  is  not 
the  only  country  in  which  contradictions  of  this  kind  occur. 

67  An  example  of  this  tendency,  which  occurred  in  the  Armour 
packing  house,  has  come  under  my  own  observation. 


/ 


86  The  American  Laborer 

The  machine,  however,  cannot  impart  character,  or  deli- 
cate finish — the  seal  of  the  real  artist.  It  is  just  on  this 
side  that  American  industry  is  weak. 

The  following  opinions  were  expressed  by  a  French  offi- 
cer who  made  a  special  study  of  arms  at  the  Chicago  fair: 
"  Whatever  can  be  made  by  machinery  and  in  large  quan- 
tities the  Americans  make  well;  but  their  goods  lack  finish, 
particularly  hand-finish,  which  they  consider  too  costly. 
In  some  of  their  works  they  make  good  steel  because  their 
ore  is  excellent;  but  in  general  their  steel  is  inferior  to  that 
of  Creusot.  Their  ordinary  rifles  are  satisfactory  and  no 
dearer  than  in  France,  but  their  rifled  guns,  which  require 
a  good  deal  of  handling,  cost  much  more." 

Most  manufacturers  of  machines  take  great  pains  with 
the  essential  parts,  but  do  not  exert  themselves  to  give  the 
rest  as  high  a  finish  as  is  liked  in  France.  There  are  excep- 
tions, however,  particularly  in  hand-tools,  which  are  dis- 
tinguishable from  those  found  in  Europe  by  slight  differ- 
ences in  form.  These,  whether  of  steel  or  wood,  are  usu- 
ally of  good  quality,  easily  handled,  light,  highly  finished — 
too  much  so,  sometimes — and  well  adapted  to  their  work. 

Every  section  of  the  French  labor-delegation  commented 
upon  this  imperfection  of  finish,  even  in  articles  of  luxury."' 
Speaking  of  a  well-known  American  silversmith,  they  re- 
mark that  he  makes  some  very  rich  designs  for  his  better 
trade,  ornate  in  the  last  degree.  No  labor,  they  continue, 
has  been  spared  in  their  manufacture,  because  they  must 
be  expensive  in  order  to  sell.  But  for  his  ordinary  trade, 
they  add,  he  keeps  a  good  deal  of  cheap,  machine-made 
stuff  which  possesses  little  artistic  merit.  They  make  the 
same  criticism  of  the  cheap  jewelry,  with  much  greater 
reason. 

The  artistic  bronzes  also  failed  to  satisfv  them.     "  Thev 


58  They  found  some  goods  to  which  this  criticism  does  not  apply: 
leadwork,  shoes,  carriages,  common  silks,  for  example.  It  was 
the  taste  which  seemed  open  to  criticism. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  87 

are  commercial  and  very  ugly  at  the  same  time,"  says  one, 
"  but  the  manufacture  is  well  understood."  In  the  exhibit 
of  a  large  zinc  manufacturer  who  makes  cheap  clocks, 
many  of  which  are  copies  of  stolen  French  models,  they 
found  that  "  apart  from  our  models,  the  work  is  bad,  and 
has  but  one  aim — low  price — which  is  easily  attained  when 
the  means  of  production  are  so  great,  and  the  choice  of 
models  from  which  to  select,  so  wide." 

They  saw  tanneries  where,  by  the  use  of  chemicals,  leather 
was  tanned  in  six  months,  whereas  it  takes  from  fifteen  to 
eighteen  in  France;  but  they  are  doubtful  of  its  durability.'' 
They  made  the  same  observation  about  machine-made 
shoes,60  and  noticed  that  the  saddlery  was  not  so  carefully 
made  as  in  France.01  They  examined  pieces  of  cloth,  and 
found  a  great  number  of  knots  and  other  defects,  arising 
from  imperfections  in  the  yarn.02 

A  French  manufacturer  delegated  to  study  the  hat  manu- 
facture expressed  himself  like  the  workmen:  "  The  Ameri-j 
cans,"  he  said,  referring  to  felt  hats,  "  imitate  the  Ger-^ 
mans,  and  would  rather  produce  large  quantities  at  low 
prices,  than  make  a  better  grade  of  goods  at  a  smaller 
profit."  "The  American  works  for  the  million,"  said  theV' 
shirt-maker,  "  and  his  sole  object  is  a  cheap  article."  Nev- 
ertheless we  learn  from  the  shoemaker  that  there  are  ex- 
ceptions, that  the  quality  of  the  medium  grades  of  shoes 
is  very  satisfactory. 

In  France  furniture-making  is  one  of  those  trades  which, 
besides  producing  ordinary  goods,  is  distinguished  by  the  ^ 
variety  and  taste  of  its  finer  products.  In  America  variety 
is  rare  and  good  taste  rarer.  Exceptions  can  be  cited,  there 
was  tasteful  work  at  the  Chicago  fair  for  instance,  but  in 
general  the  wood  is  cut  up,  grooved  and  fitted  by  ma- 
chinery; the  mouldings  and  other  ornaments  are  cut  out 
by   mechanical   saws    or   routing-cutters,   the    carved-work' 

59  Rapports  sur  I' exposition  de  Chicago,  p.  319.  M  Ibid.,  p.  390. 

81  Ibid.,  p.  327.  c"  Ibid.,  pp.  292  and  299. 


88  The  American  Laborer 

itself  is  most  often  rough-hewed  by  machine.  This  is 
manufacturing,  not  art,  and  one  is  not  surprised  to  find  a 
certain  unmistakable  family  resemblance  in  most  American 
furniture.  The  French  delegates  could  bring  in  only  one 
verdict  upon  this  point:  "The  work  is  nothing  above  the 
ordinary,  and  requires  little  hand-labor,"  they  repeat  sev- 
eral times.  "  Everything  is  superficial,  everything  sacri- 
ficed to  the  cheap  trade  and  quick  returns/'  w  The  glass- 
y/blowers, however,  make  an  exception  of  molded  glass," 
though  the  superiority  here  is  due  to  machinery. 

The  French  manufacturers  and  workmen  saw  the  factories 
and  the  exhibits  at  the  Chicago  fair;  but  they  probably 
saw  little  of  family  life  in  America.  Had  they  done  so, 
they  would  have  discovered  that  this  ready-made  furniture 
is  well  adapted  to  the  American  mode  of  living.  The 
American  people  know  how  to  adapt  themselves  comfort- 
ably to  their  surroundings,  like  their  English  cousins,  and 
certain  parts  of  their  domestic  equipage — the  dressing- 
rooms,  for  instance — compare  very  favorably  with  those  of 
other  nations.  In  works  of  art  there  are  certain  general 
canons  of  taste  applicable  to  all  styles  and  by  which  the 
latter  may  be  judged.  But  in  the  necessities  and  conveni- 
ences of  its  daily  life,  every  people  is  free  to  choose  what 
best  suits  its  own  needs. 

The  verdict  of  the  employer. —  ■Manufacturers  regard  the 
incessant  improvement  and  rapid  renewal  of  their  plant, 
the  continually  enlarging  sphere  of  machinery  and  the  de- 
velopment of  great  establishments,  as  legitimate  conse- 
quences of  economic  freedom,  and  see  in  them  an  advance- 
ment of  two  of  the  most  beneficent  elements  of  civilization; 
a  cheap  and  an  abundant  production.  The  employer,  the 
consumer  and  the  laborer,  they  affirm,  all  realize  from  them 
a  definite  advantage. 

We  must  learn,  first  of  all,  as  the  Americans  have  already 
V  learned,  that  although  the  machine  begins  as  the  servant, 

nIbid.,  p.  146.  MIbid.,  p.  167. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  89 

it  ends  in  being  the  master.  Enterprising  manufacturers 
adopt  new  machinery  because  of  the  increased  profits  which 
it  brings,  and  the  more  backward  manufacturers  must  then 
follow  suit  or  be  pushed  to  the  wall.  The  necessity  of 
locking  up  large  amounts  of  capital  in  plant  may  be  very 
disastrous  at  times,  and  it  is  painful  to  see  expensive  ma- 
chinery become  obsolete  at  the  end  of  a  few  years,  while 
the  necessity  of  sinking  more  capital  becomes  apparent. 
The  aspect  of  the  problem  was  well  expressed  by  one  of 
the  special  agents  of  the  Eleventh  Census: 

"  So  active  has  been  the  competition  among  the  different 
mills,  that  only  those  concerns  which  have  been  foremost 
in  the  adoption  of  improved  labor-saving  machinery  are 
large  producers  at  the  present  time.  The  destruction  of 
capital  in  the  steel-rail  industry  during  the  last  decade  by 
the  improvements  in  mechanical  appliances  has  been  enor- 
mous, costly  machinery  becoming  obsolete  long  before 
worn  out."  65 

But  a  machine  becomes  old-fashioned  only  when  better 
results  are  obtained  with  a  new  one.  This  should  be  a 
cause  for  congratulation;  the  necessity  of  changing  fre- 
quently is  a  proof  of  rapid  progress.  The  far-sighted  manu- 
facturer includes  in  his  general  expenses  the  cost  of  fre- 
quently renewing  his  plant,  and  if  his  calculations  have 
been  correct  he  will  not  be  disturbed  over  the  necessity  of 
throwing  aside  a  machine;  it  is  already  paid  for,  and  has, 
in  consequence,  rendered  the  service  expected  of  it.  Shall 
he  continue  to  use  it  at  a  loss  when  he  can  replace  it  with 
another  that  will  yield  a  profit?  What  other  object  than 
profit  has  the  machine? 

Among  nations,  as  among  individuals,  those  who  secure 
the  best  tools  and  learn  how  to  use  them,  are  the  ones  who 
have  the  best  chance  of  fortune  and  success.  A  country 
that  wishes  to  enter  or  remain  in  the  front  rank  of  indus- 

65  "  Manufacturing  Industries,"  Eleventh  Census,  part  iii,  p.  413- 


90  The  American  Laborer 

trial  and  commercial  nations,  cannot  lag  behind  in  this 
respect.6" 

The  manufacturers  consider  that  the  movement  has  been 
advantageous  to  laborers  in  every  way;  as  vendors  of  labor, 
because  the  general  level  of  wages  has  risen;  as  consumers, 
because  they  can  buy  more  with  the  same  amount  of  money; 
as  workmen,  because  machinery  has  taken  over  all  the 
heavy  and  more  arduous  work.  The  laborer,  from  a  mere 
drudge,  working  with  his  muscles,  has  become  a  director, 
working  with  his  mind.  He  is  told  that  his  specialized 
work  is  brutalizing,  because  it  is  monotonous.  Which  is 
more  monotonous  for  the  workman:  to  watch  a  few  auto- 
matic looms  for  ten  hours  a  day,  every  now  and  then  tying 
a  thread,  or  for  fourteen  heavy  hours  to  operate  a  hand- 
loom,  moving  the  batten  with  his  hand  and  the  treadles 
with  his  feet? 

When  an  embroiderer  of  Lorraine  makes  a  stitch  by 
hand,  does  she  develop  her  intelligence  more  than  the  work- 
man of  Saint-Gall  when  he  directs  a  loom  that  makes  several 
hundred  at  a  time?  "  It  is  an  almost  universal  law,"  says 
the  Secretary  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool  Manu- 
facturers, "  that  the  more  the  machine  is  made  to  accom- 
plish, either  in  speed  or  in  automatic  movement,  the  less 
there  is  left  for  the  man  to  do."  He  quotes  the  conclusion 
of  Professor  Marshall:  "  It  is  the  monotony  of  life,  much 
more  than  monotony  of  labor,  that  is  to  be  dreaded. 
The  social  surroundings  of  factory  life  stimulate  mental 
activity  in  and  out  of  working  hours,  and  even  those  fac- 
tory operatives  whose  occupations  are  seemingly  the  most 
monotonous,  have  more  intelligence  and  mental  resource 
than  has  been  shown  by  the  English  agricultural  laborer, 
whose  employment  has  more  variety."  " 

M  The  Parisian  delegates  think  that  in  several  lines  it  will  not 
be  long  before  the  Americans  are  exporting  to  Europe.  "  They 
will  inundate  us  with  their  products,"  said  one. 

"Bulletin  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers.  Sep- 
tember, 1895,  pp.  221,  222. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  91 

As  more  space  is  required  for  machinery,  work-rooms 
are  enlarged,  ceilings  heightened,  and  sanitary  conditions 
improved.  With  respect  to  hygiene  there  is  no  comparison 
between  the  sweat-shop  or  the  cottage  of  the  rural  artisan, 
and  the  great  factory  of  to-day.  And  it  plainly  follows 
from  the  study  we  have  made,  that  the  development  of  ma- 
chinery and  the  increase  in  the  size  of  the  industrial  unit, 
has  lowered  the  prices  of  an  immense  number  of  com- 
modities. This  is  one  of  the  most  praiseworthy  results 
of  industrial  progress,  the  end  of  which  is  the  fullest  satis- 
faction of  human  want. 

The  zrrdict  of  the  laborer. — The  laborer  does  not  share 
this  optimism,.  He  reproaches  the  machine  with  exhaust- 
ing the  strength  of  the  operative,  although  this  only  applies 
to  the  small  number  of  occupations  in  which  the  motive- 
power  is  supplied  by  the  workman  himself,  as  with  some 
sewing-machines.  He  complains  that  the  continual  move- 
ment of  the  machine  affords  no  respite  for  the  operator  and 
enervates  him  by  requiring  his  unremitting  attention;  this 
complaint  is  applicable  to  a  greater  number  of  employ- 
ments, particularly  to  spinning  and  weaving,  when  the 
operative  has  to  mind  more  than  four  machines.  He  ac- 
cuses the  machine  of  transforming  the  workman  into  an 
automaton  that  knows  and  does  but  one  thing,  and  claims 
that  it  diminishes  the  number  of  skilled  workmen,  permits 
the  substitution  of  low-paid  labor  and  thus  reduces  the 
general  level  of  wages.  He  charges  that  the  introduction 
of  every  new  machine,  momentarily  at  least,  deprives  a  cer- 
tain number  of  workmen  of  the  means  of  existence  and 
thus  renders  the  condition  of  all  uncertain.  Finally  he 
charges  the  machine  with  having  a  definite  and  unmistak- 
able tendency  to  intensify  the  disastrous  competition  among 
laborers,  by  restricting  the  opportunities  for  work.  These 
grievances  merit  examination. 

In  one  of  the  special  reports  of  the  Tenth  Census  Dr. 
Wright  examined  four  other  charges  which  are  frequently 
made  against  the  factory  system:  (i)  that  it  "necessitates 


y 


92  The  American  Laborer 

the  employment  of  women  and  children  to  an  injurious  ex- 
tent"  and  consequently  tends  to  destroy  family  ties;  (2) 
that  "  factory  employments  are  injurious  to  health;  "  (3)  that 
"it  is  productive  of  intemperance,  unthrift,  and  poverty;" 
(4)  that  "  it  feeds  prostitution  and  swells  the  criminal  lists." 
He  has  no  difficulty  in  proving  that  these  accusations  rest 
upon  error  or  exaggeration.08 

At  the  sixth  annual  convention  of  Labor  Commissioners 
held  in  Indianapolis  in  1888,  Mr.  Powderly,  Grand  Master 
of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  used  the  following  words  in  speak- 
ing of  some  of  the  grievances  of  the  laborer:  "  It  is  neither 
profitable  nor  encouraging  to  learn  a  trade  when  the 
chances  are  that  some  morning  the  mechanic  will  awake 
to  find  a  machine  standing  in  his  place  doing  the  work 
which  he  performed  the  day  before.  Inventions  have  been 
introduced  so  rapidly  and  extensively  during  the  last  ten 
years  that  many  trades  have  been  almost  revolutionized. 
The  rapid  introduction  of  machinery  has  had  a  tendency 
to  depress  wages;  the  reduction  in  wages  and  the  lack  of 
security  in  workshop  management  has  been  the  cause  of 
sending  many  a  boy  to  college  who  would  have  gone  into 
the  workshop  after  passing  through  the  routine  of  the  com- 
mon public  school The  colleges  and  schools  are  full 

to  overflowing,  and  soon  the  professions  will  be  as  crowded 
as  the  trades  are  to-day."  ™ 

A  part  of  these  grievances  rest  upon  certain  actual  facts 
which  are  easily  brought  home  to  the  workingman,  but 
whose  remote  consequences  we  conceal  from  him  when 
they  do  not  support  his  indictment  against  the  organization 
of  society.  It  is  wholly  wrong  to  say  that  the  machine 
exhausts  the  muscular  force  of  the  laborer;  on  this  point 
the  manufacturers  are  entirely  right.  They  are  not  so 
clearly  correct  in  regard  to  the  strain  upon  the  attention, 


68  "  The  Factory  System,"  p.  20. 

09  First  Biennial  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Colorado, 
28. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  93 

for  although  the  number  of  picks  that  an  automatic  loom 
makes  per  minute  would  seem  to  have  little  influence  upon 
the  amount  of  effort  required  to  tie  a  broken  thread,  and 
the  size  and  speed  of  a  roll-train  would  appear  to  have  no 
connection  with  the  labor  involved  in  turning  on  or  off  the 
steam  which  sets  it  in  motion,  workingmen  are  unanimous 
in  affirming  the  contrary.70  The  employers  are  also  correct 
in  their  assertions  that  the  modern  factory,  enlarged  by 
the  necessities  of  machinery  and  governed  by  strict  regula--; 
tions,  is  more  healthful  than  the  home  of  the  workman,  * 
and  that  the  development  of  the  factory  system  in  general 
tends  to  improve  sanitary  conditions.  In  America,  as  in 
Europe,  hygienists  have  applied  themselves  to  the  discovery 
of  maladies  peculiar  to  certain  occupations  and  conditions, 
and  they  have  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  them,  as  hu- 
manity is  not  exempt  from  infirmities.  They  have  rendered 
a  service  by  evoking  reforms,  but  at  times  they  have  led 
people  to  believe  that  they  have  discovered  new  evils,  when 
they  have  merely  called  attention  to  old  ones. 

On  the  other  hand  it  is  certain  that  when  a  machine  en- 
ters a  shop,  it  is  going  to  do  the  work  of  several  men. 
The  Massachusetts  commission  which  investigated  the 
subject  of  the  unemployed,  reported  as  one  cause  of  idle- 
ness "  the  introduction  and  improvements  of  labor-saving 
machinery,  together  with  the  incidental  saving  of  labor  due 
to  the  specialization  of  work  and  the  consequent  increased 
efficiency  of  the  individual  workman.  The  precise  measure 
of  importance  to  be  given  to  this  cause,"  the  board  con- 

70  In  the  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  to  Investigate  the  Sub- 
ject of  the  Unemployed,  p.  55,  Prof.  Dewey  writes  as  follows  apropos 
of  the  textile  factories:  "  Employers  and  employees  differ  as  to  the 
difficulty  of  managing  this  increased  number  of  machines,  some 
employers  saying  that  owing  to  the  improvements  in  the  machin- 
ery the  work  is  no  more  severe  now  than  it  was  ten  years  ago, 
while  the  employees  without  exception  assert  that  it  is.  The  man- 
agers, however,  generally  admit  that  the  work  is  growing  more 
intense,  which  is  practically  all  that  the  employees  claim."  The 
same  divergence  of  opinion  is  noted  on  page  62. 


94  The  American  Laborer 

tinues,  "  is  not  universally  agreed  upon,  the  effect  of  its 
influence  has  varied  in  different  localities  and  branches  of 
the  trade."  "  Taking  the  shoemaking  trade  as  an  illus- 
tration, Prof.  Dewey  finds  a  diminution  ranging  from  15 
to  30  per  cent,  in  the  number  of  employees.  By  estimat- 
ing on  the  basis  of  an  "  ideal  making  room  "  he  is  able  to 
compare  the  number  of  laborers  necessary  to  produce  a 
certain  quantity  of  work  in  1895  with  the  number  which 
would  have  been  required  "  before  the  introduction  and 
improvement  of  the  so-called  great  machines  McKay, 
Goodyear,  etc."  He  finds  that  28  workmen  in  1895  corre- 
spond to  44  workmen  ten  or  fifteen  years  before.  This  is 
equivalent  to  a  diminution  of  more  than  one-third,  and  if 
the  comparison  had  extended  over  fifty  instead  of  fifteen 
years,  it  would  have  been  very  much  greater.  "  Some  of 
the  labor  displaced,"  says  Prof.  Dewey,  "  has  been  re-ab- 
sorbed by  increased  production,  but  not  all;  and  the  ratio 
V  of  unemployed  slowly  but  steadily  increases."  But  Prof. 
Dewey  was  writing  during  a  crisis.'2 

In  1894  the  New  York  Labor  Bureau  made  itself  the 
mouthpiece  of  the  workmen  who  accuse  machinery  of 
reducing  the  demand  for  labor.  According  to  the  estimate 
of  the  carpenters,  the  reduction  was  about  fifteen  per  cent., 
according  to  the  cloth-cutters  about  twenty  per  cent.,  ac- 
cording to  the  shirt-makers  thirty  per  cent.,  according  to 
the  cabinet-makers  thirty-five  per  cent.,  and  according  to 
the  stone-cutters  fifty  per  cent.  But  these  estimates  seem 
to  be  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  introduction  of 
machinery  caused  no  change  in  the  quantity  of  products; 

71  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  to  Investigate  the  Subject  of 
the  Unemployed,  1895,  p.  47.  The  above  was  written  in  connection 
with  the  boot  and  shoe  industry.  Prof.  Dewey  makes  almost  the 
same  statement  with  regard  to  the  woolen  industry,  p.  61. 

72  Careful  comparisons  made  by  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Sta- 
tistics of  Labor  show  that  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry  the  aver- 
age number  of  employees  decreased  2.12  per  cent,  from  1895  to 
1896,  but  increased  5.2  per  cent,  from  1896  to  1897,  and  has  been 
increasing  ever  since.     [Tr.] 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  95 

they  wholly  ignore  the  increase  in  the  demand  for  labor, 
consequent  upon  the  fall  in  prices  caused  by  the  use  of  ma- 
chinery. Some  of  the  unions  admitted  that  the  number  of 
workmen  had  actually  been  increased  by  the  introduction  of 
machinery;  the  piano-makers,  for  instance,  estimated  that 
an  increase  of  twenty  per  cent,  had  taken  place.73  Upon 
which  basis  do  their  calculations  rest?  Their  results  ap- 
pear too  indefinite  to  be  conclusive,  although  there  seems 
to  be  no  doubt  that,  in  these  industries,  less  labor  is  now 
required  to  produce  a  certain  quantity  of  goods,  than  for- 
merly. 

In  answer  to  these  complaints  political  economy  puts  in 
evidence  the  general  statistics  on  the  subject,  which  show 
that  the  total  number  of  workingmen  has  always  increased 
from  one  census  to  another,  that  the  average  rate  of  wages 
has  been  continually  rising,  and  finally  that  the  variation  in 
prices  is  directly  advantageous  to  the  workingman  as  a 
consumer.     These  three  facts  are  incontestable. 

And  yet  the  workingman  is  not  reassured  by  this  an- 
swer. In  most  cases  he  rarely  consumes  the  article  which 
he  is  engaged  in  producing,  and  the  fluctuations  of  the  av- 
erage wage  seldom  if  ever  correspond  to  the  fluctuations 
of  his  own  salary.  Moreover,  when  he  is  displaced  by  ma- 
chinery, he  has  but  little  chance  of  finding  employment  in 
the  same  trade,  and  if  he  is  able  to  procure  other  employ- 
ment at  all,  it  is  only  after  the  most  wearisome  search. 
Withal,  he  has  a  family  to  support.  Labor  is  more  mobile 
in  America  than  in  Europe,  but,  in  either  place  the  passage 
from  one  trade  to  another  is  difficult  enough,  and  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic  disasters  of  this  nature  fall  with  crush- 
ing force  upon  individual  families,  and  occasionally,  upon 
the  employees  of  a  whole  occupation.  This  fact  is  also  in- 
contestable. 


7S  Summary  of  the  Twelfth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  p.  15.  Out  of  the  695  unions  interrogated, 
371  answered  that  machinery  was  used  in  their  trades. 


96  The  American  Laborer 

Machinery  and  concentration:  the  future. — I  have  indicated 
the  feelings  of  both  workmen  and  employers  towards  the 
transformation  which  the  improvement  in  machinery  and 
transportation  facilities  is  working  in  every  country  of  the 
civilized  world — gradually  in  some  countries,  rapidly  in  the 
United  States.  The  result,  as  we  have  seen,  is  an  antinomy, 
arising  from  the  difference  in  the  standpoints  occupied  by 
the  two  observers,  the  one  being  engrossed  with  the  abund- 
ance and  cheapness  of  products,  the  other  absorbed  in  con- 
templating the  elimination  of  the  laborer,  and  the  misery 
of  non-employment.  I  desire  to  attempt,  if  not  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  irreconcilable,  at  least  to  indicate  the  path 
of  progress.  To  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  dismiss  particular 
instances  and  regard  the  totality  of  phenomena  and  conse- 
quences.    This  is  the  method  of  economic  science. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  that 
production  and  consumption  constantly  react  upon  each 
other,  and  that  between  supply  and  demand  there  is  a  cer- 
tain equilibrium  which,  while  never  fixed  for  any  length  of 
time,  is  constantly  being  re-established.  As  a  rule  the 
price  of  a  commodity  acts  as  a  regulator,  stimulating  con- 
sumption when  low  enough  to  attract  purchasers,  checking 
production  when  it  becomes  too  low  to  be  remunerative. 
The  oscillations  do  not  take  place  without  serious  dis- 
turbances: losses,  bankruptcies,  crises,  on  the  one  hand; 
on  the  other,  displacements  of  labor,  lack  of  employment, 
privation  of  all  kinds.  When  the  locomotive  has  banished 
the  stage-coach,  the  innkeeper  on  the  high  road  finds  his 
occupation  gone.  When  the  steamer  replaces  the  sailing 
vessel,  the  seaman  is  not  immediately  transformed  into  a 
fireman;  we  must  wait  until  the  next  generation  before  the 
human  forces  of  industry  can  be  redistributed.  In  Silesia 
and  Flanders  the  substitution  of  mechanical  for  hand  spin- 
ning produced  deep  and  continued  suffering.7* 


74  Among  other  testimony  see  that  of  Wolowski.  Etudes  d' Econo- 
mic Politique,  1848.  It  seems  absolutely  necessary  to  find  either 
remedies  or  palliatives  for  these  evils. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  97 

Over-production  is  suggested.  Some  further  explana- 
tion of  this  term  is  necessary.  Many  examples  of  exces- 
sive production  at  a  given  time  and  market  may  be  cited, 
the  condition  resulting  in  some  cases  from  the  fact  that 
consumers  will  not  take  the  accustomed  amount,  in  other 
cases  from  the  fact  that  the  market  will  not  absorb  the 
supply  at  the  price  demanded.  But  final  and  general  over- 
production is  an  absurdity.  Production  stops  when  the 
demand  ceases  and  it  is  impossible  to  fix  a  future  limit  for 
the  demand,  because  one  cannot  tell  how  low  the  cost  of 
production  may  fall  or  what  may  be  the  increase  in  the 
number  and  wealth  of  the  consumers. 

Hundreds  of  examples  might  be  cited,  from  Europe  as 
well  as  the  United  States,  of  the  absorptive  powers  of  a 
people  whose  wants  and  means  of  satisfaction  are  increasing. 
In  1830  the  per  capita  consumption  of  cotton  in  the  United 
States  was  6  pounds;  in  1890,  19  pounds.  This  was  not 
because  of  any  great  difference  in  the  price  of  raw  cotton 
in  the  two  epochs,  but  because  the  cost  of  manufacturing 
cotton  fabrics  had  been  greatly  reduced.  In  1870  the 
Americans  consumed  105  pounds  of  iron  per  capita;  in  1890, 
283  pounds ;  in  the  same  interval  the  per  capita  consumption 
of  steel  rose  from  46  to  144  pounds.  The  price  of  these  pro- 
ducts, steel  especially,  has  fallen  and  this  has  increased  their 
uses. 

And  yet  the  flood  of  products  which  certain  industries 
pour  upon  the  market  tempts  one  to  believe  that  in  these 
industries  the  saturation  point  is  being  approached,  for  a 
time  at  least.  I  read  in  a  report  upon  the  Chicago  fair 
that  in  one  year  the  American  manufacturers  put  out  972,- 
375  dozen  finished,  and  74,006  dozen  untrimmed  women's, 
felt  hats — about  12,500,000  felt  hats  for  a  population  of 
63,000,000 — to  say  nothing  of  the  other  kinds  of  women's 
hats,  the  silk  hats  and  the  immense  consumption  of  straw 
hats,  which  are  not  included.  According  to  Col.  Wright, 
the  United  States  produced  in  1890,  179.5  million  pairs  of 


98  The  American  Laborer 

boots  and  shoes,  about  3  pairs  for  each  inhabitant."'  And 
the  number  of  workmen  required  to  provide  the  population 
with  foot-  and  head-wear  is  astonishingly  small — in  1890, 
3,592  employees  in  the  felt-hat  manufacture,  and  about 
194,000  in  the  boot  and  shoe  industry.  There  are  certainly 
some  industries  in  which  the  growth  of  the  production  has 
outrun  that  of  the  consumption.  Possibly  this  is  what  will 
result  in  the  textile  industries  from  the  use  of  the  North- 
rup  loom.70  Even  when  the  increase  of  consumption  serves 
to  keep  the  old  number  of  workmen  employed,  the  growth 
of  the  demand  for  labor  is  unquestionably  checked  by  the 
improvements  of  machinery,  and  it  is  with  great  concern 
that  American  workmen  see  their  families  deprived  of  the 
benefits  of  a  possible  growth  of  demand,  by  the  immigration 
of  foreign  labor;  immigration  is  a  more  important  factor  in 
filling  the  factories  than  the  native  birth-rate. 

When  markets  become  glutted  and  goods  will  not  sell,  it 
means  only  a  loss  of  interest  to  the  capitalist,  but  to  the 
workman  it  means  lack  of  work  and  danger  of  starvation; 
the  difference  is  great.     The  laboring  class  appreciates  its 

75  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  171.  The  report  of  the  French  commis- 
sion (p.  42)  gives  the  amount  at  240  million  pairs  and  in  addition 
10  million  pairs  of  rubber  shoes. 

78  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  are  industries  both  in  Europe  and 
America  in  which  the  number  of  employees  is  diminishing.  In 
some  cases  the  production  suffers  a  positive  decline,  as  for  example 
the  production  of  wheat  in  England.  In  some,  prices  decline  while 
the  production  remains  stationary,  and  the  industry  is  forced  both 
to  improve  its  processes  and  dismiss  some  of  the  operatives;  this 
is  illustrated  by  the  iron  industry  in  France  which,  according  to 
the  Statistique  de  I'industrie  minerale,  produced  an  output  worth 
524,500,000  francs  and  employed  64,000  workmen  in  1881,  while  its 
output  was  worth  only  424,000,000  francs  and  it  employed  only 
59,700  workmen,  in  1893.  In  other  cases  the  production  has  been 
increased,  without  enlarging  the  labor  force,  by  the  invention  of 
new  machinery  and  new  processes,  the  principal  result  here  being 
a  fall  in  the  price  of  the  commodity.  Thus,  in  the  sugar-refining 
industry,  the  number  of  employees  was  reduced  11  per  cent,  and 
the  wages  (of  the  male  employees)  about  6z/2  per  cent,  from  1881 
to  1894,  while  the  total  quantity  of  sugar  doubled  and  the  price  fell 
more  than  50  per  cent. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  99 

own  troubles  keenly  enough;  the  scientist  and  the  phil- 
osopher should  take  up  the  problem  and  strive  to  ameliorate 
the  suffering  involved  in  this  transformation. 

In  the  past,  American  as  well  as  European  workmen  have 
resorted  to  violence,  and  have  destroyed  the  obnoxious  ma- 
chinery. To-day,  I  trust,  experience  has  shown  them  the 
uselessness  of  such  measures,17  although  they  are  still  search- 
ing for  means  to  safeguard  their  interests. 

Unfortunately  the  people  know  little  history.  If  they 
paid  more  attention  to  the  experience  of  the  past,  they 
would  be  less  disturbed  about  the  future.  During  the  last 
half  of  the  present  century  there  has  undoubtedly  been  an 
enormous  increase  in  the  productivity  of  machinery,  and 
products  have  multiplied  more  rapidly  than  consumers. 
But  at  the  very  beginning  of  this  period  the  cry  that  ma- 
chinery generates  disaster  by  causing  overproduction  was 
already  familiar.  Bastiat,  for  instance,  wrote  as  follows  in 
attempting  to  expose  the  slender  foundation  upon  which  this 
opinion  rested:  "  If  a  few  laborers  are  temporarily  thrown 
out  of  work  by  the  introduction  of  machinery,  we  look 
askance  at  such  progress,  treat  it  as  a  disaster,  and  take 
refuge  behind  absurd  but  specious  catch-phrases:  '  produc- 
tion is  superabundant,  we  perish  with  plenty,'  '  the  power 
of  producing  has  outgrown  the  ability  to  consume.'  " 

Long  before  Bastiat,  Sismondi  talked  about  the  "  super- 
saturation  of  commerce "  {engorgement  du  commerce)  and 
"  the  number  of  manufacturers,  who  pour  upon  the  market 
infinitely  more  produce  than  the  people  can  buy."  7      Sis- 

77  At  least  the  more  thoughtful  workingmen.  Mr.  Stevens,  the 
Chief  of  the  New  York  Labor  Bureau,  wrote  me  in  1894,  that  the 
more  enlightened  compositors  believe  that  although  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  type-setting  machine  caused  temporary  distress,  the  pro- 
duction of  books,  magazines,  etc.,  will  be  greatly  increased  in  a 
few  years,  and  that  this  will  be  attended  by  a  rapid  growth  in  the 
demand  for  their  labor.  The  pessimists,  of  course,  do  not  share 
this  belief. 

78  Harmonies  Economiques   p.  73. 

79  Nouveaux  Principes  d'Economie  Politique  (1827),   II,  326,  402. 


100  The  American  Laborer 

mondi  denounced  concentration  and  the  progress  of  ma- 
chinery as  causes  of  an  immoderate  production,  and  affirmed 
that  "  every  laborer  in  England  would  be  discharged  if  the 
manufacturers  could  save  five  per  cent,  by  putting  ma- 
chines in  their  places."  To-day  England  has  infinitely 
more  manufactures,  more  products,  and  more  machines, 
which  effect  economies  much  greater  than  five  per  cent,  on 
the  basis  of  the  cost  of  production  in  1826;  yet  she  has 
many  more  workingmen  and  the  wages  of  these  have  been 
steadily  rising.  Since  time  has  decided  in  favor  of  Bastiat 
and  the  pretended  glut  of  1850  has  not  prevented  our  gen- 
eration from  consuming  much  more  in  1895  than  was  pro- 
duced in  1850,  is  it  necessary  to  despair  of  the  possibility 
of  producing  and  consuming  even  more  in  the  next  gen- 
eration? 

What  would  the  mediaeval  copyists,  who  wrote  probably 
not  more  than  four  pages  an  hour,  have  thought  if  some 
one  told  them  of  a  machine  that  would  produce  in  an  hour 
the  contents  of  twelve  million  manuscript  pages!  The 
scribes  have  disappeared,  it  is  true,  but  printing  gives  em- 
ployment to  far  more  hands  than  ever  found  occupation 
in  the  work  of  copying  manuscripts,  for  the  simple  reason 
that  more  people  know  how  to  read. 

The  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  New  York  makes 
the  following  suggestive  comparison :  "  The  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  are  the  greatest  owners  and  users  of  ma- 
chinery. Compare  the  general  condition  of  the  workers  of 
these  two  nations,  with  that  of  any  other  country  on  the 
face  of  the  globe,  where  machinery  is  unknown  except  in 
its  most  primitive  form.  Where  lies  the  superiority?  It 
seems  almost  a  paradox,  but  it  is  a  truth,  that  machinery 
conduces  to  employment  and  to  betterment;  not  only  in- 
creasing production,  but  multiplying  the  chances  of  em- 
ployment and  incidentally  the  consumption  of  products."  * 

60  Eighth  Annual  Report,  p.  685. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  101 

American  census  statistics  show  that  the  proportion  of 
laborers  to  the  whole  population  has  been  increasing  dur- 
ing the  very  period  that  the  machine  has  been  taking  the 
most  complete  possession  of  production.  From  i860  to 
1890  the  population  doubled,  but  the  number  of  persons  em- 
ployed in  the  manufacturing  industries  nearly  tripled  (an 
increase  of  172  per  cent.),  and  in  the  same  interval  the  mo- 
tive-power increased  fourfold.81  Invention  has  created  new 
industries  and  occupations,  such  as  photography,  telegra-^ 
phy,  railroading,  electroplating,  the  manufacture  of  bi- 
cycles, etc.,  and  has  given  much  more  work  than  it  has 
taken  away.  Even  in  those  ancient  trades  which  have  been 
transformed  by  machinery,  the  progress  of  consumption  has 
in  most  cases  maintained  the  demand  for  labor. 

This  progress  has  not  been  accomplished  with  a  single 
stroke,  nor  has  it  been  regular  and  synchronous  in  the 
different  branches  of  production;  it  has  been  accompanied 
by  general  and  partial  crises.  Each  branch  has  its  history; 
some  have  languished,  some  have  withered,  but  it  is  by  the 
whole  tree  that  we  must  judge  the  growth.  One  cannot 
revive  a  dead  branch  by  cutting  the  trunk.  What  the  chief 
of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  New  York  stated  with  regard 
to  England  and  the  United  States,  statistics  prove  to  be 
true  of  every  great  industrial  region  of  the  world.     Thus 


81  In  England  the  motive-power  increased  from  1,290,000  horse- 
power in  1850  to  about  9,500,000  in  1890,  and  this  did  not  prevent 
the  population  from  increasing  from  27,700.000  to  38,100,000.  In 
France  the  population  was  34,200,000  in  1841  and  38,300,000  in  1896; 
the  aggregate  horsepower  was  56,000  in  1840  and  5,734,000  in 
1893.  These  figures  are  scarcely  comparable  because  statistical 
methods  have  changed,  but  they  indicate  that  the  introduction  of 
motive-power  equivalent  to  100,000,000  laborers  has  not  prevented 
the  growth  of  the  laboring  classes  in  a  country  whose  population 
is  reputed  to  be  stationary.  From  1836  to  1891  the  population  was 
increased  by  4,000,000  in  the  fourteen  departments  which  have  the 
most  steam-machinery,  and  these  comprehend  the  departments 
in  which  the  increase  of  machinery  has  been  greatest.  In  the 
fourteen  departments  which  have  the  least  steam-machinery  the 
population  has  slightly  decreased  since  1836. 


102  The  American  Laborer 

in  France,  where  the  population  increases  very  slowly,  there 
has  been  a  rapid  increase  in  those  departments  which  con- 
tain the  most  steam-machines,  because  the  machine  creates 
a  demand  and  attracts  labor. 

There  can  be  no  social  evolution  unaccompanied  by  in- 
jury to  some  one.  The  forces  which  impel  industry  toward 
the  use  of  machinery  and  the  factory  system,  seem  irre- 
sistible to  me,  because  their  objective  point  is  cheapness, 
and  cheapness  is  the  chief  desideratum  of  the  consumer, 
and  one  of  the  goals  of  economic  progress.  It  is  Utopian 
to  believe  that  we  can  return,  by  any  modification  whatso- 
ever of  the  social  order,  to  the  regime  of  domestic  industry. 
Domestic  industry  as  an  ideal  has  been  shattered  by  the 
sweating  system. 

A  French  resident  of  Philadelphia  who  is  very  familiar 
with  economic  matters  said  to  me  that  a  careful  examination 
of  the  state  of  affairs  in  America  revealed  an  astonishing 
growth  of  concentration  and  large  manufactures.  C'est  la 
qu'est  I'avenir,  he  said.  I  agree  with  my  friend,  but  at  the 
same  time  I  am  convinced  that  the  growth  of  the  industrial 
unit  has  natural  limits,  and  that  there  will  always  be  a  place 
for  the  petty  merchant  and  the  small  manufacturer. 

Since  the  Civil  War  the  manufacturing  industries  of  the 
United  States  have  moved  boldly  and  rapidly  in  this  direc- 
tion and  they  have  become  very  powerful.  "  They  pro- 
gress, and  rapidly,"  wrote  a  large  manufacturer  S3  in  a  re- 
port upon  the  Chicago  Exposition,  "  and  in  many  respects 
they  are  ahead  of  us,  not  from  the  scientific,  but  from  the 
practical  point  of  view."  Concentration  will  be  more  in- 
tense in  the  next  century,  and  the  machine,  with  a  still  more 
important  place  to  fill,  will  continue  to  stimulate  it.  It  is 
towards  concentration  then,  and  perfected  machinery,  that 
the  entrepreneur,  the  wage-earner  or  the  economist  must 
look,  who  would  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  future.     He  who 

82  Mr.  P.  Arbel. 


The  Productivity  of  Labor  and  Machinery  103 

contemplates  practical  reform  must  first  accept  this  in- 
evitable movement  of  industry  which  cannot  and  should 
not  be  blocked,  and  to  which  it  would  be  unfortunate  to 
offer  more  than  the  slightest  resistance  in  the  shape  of  arti- 
ficial legislative  measures.  For  this  reason  I  have  thought 
it  best  to  show  the  inevitable  trend  of  American  industry, 
before  beginning  the  study  of  the  condition  of  the  laborer. 


CHAPTER  III. 
LABOR  LAWS  AND  TRADE  REGULATIONS 

Labor  legislation  in  Europe. — The  regulation  of  industry 
by  public  authority  is  very  ancient.  In  the  middle  ages 
the  sovereign  or  feudal  lord  invested  with  his  sanction  the 
statutes  passed  by  the  gilds,  and  thus  assured  to  the  mer- 
chants and  craftsmen  the  monopoly  and  regulation  of  in- 
dustry in  certain  localities.  During  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  manufactures  began  to  be  introduced 
into  France,  and  these  were  protected  by  the  grant  of  let- 
ters patent  conferring  special  privileges  upon  favored  en- 
trepreneurs. Ordinances  regulating  production  were  also 
promulgated,  in  order  to  guarantee  the  quality  of  the  pro- 
ducts, much  as  the  gilds  did,  or  attempted  to  do,  in  their 
sphere.  Similar  methods  of  regulation  were  common  in 
most  of  the  European  states  during  this  period. 

In  France  all  the  regulations  of  the  ancient  regime  were 
abolished  by  the  Revolution  of  1789  and  replaced  by  a  new 
industrial  code  founded  upon  the  fruitful  principle  of  the 
liberty  of  labor.  In  England,  a  gradual  abolition  of  the 
restrictions  upon  labor  had  been  going  on  for  more  than 
a  century,  caused  by  the  development  of  machinery  and  the 
factory  system.  In  most  of  the  countries  of  continental 
Europe  the  emancipation  of  labor  was  delayed  much  longer, 
until  gradually  effected  by  the  progress  of  wealth  and  ideas 
during  the  nineteenth  century. 

Factories  multiplied  rapidly,  but  as  the  machine  be- 
came more  and  more  important,  and  the  people  crowded  to 
the  factories,  the  anxiety  to  protect  the  manufacturer  gave 
way  to  an  anxiety  to  defend  the  laborer  against  the  evils  of 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  105 

the  factory  system.  England  was  far  in  advance  of  other 
nations  in  the  development  of  large  manufactures  and  it 
was  the  English  Parliament  that  first  enacted  into  law  the 
sentiments  inspired  by  the  evils  of  factory  life.  The  oldest 
laws  of  this  nature  were  passed  in  1801,  1803,  1819,  1825, 
183 1  and  relate  to  the  health  and  morality  of  workmen 
employed  in  the  cotton  and  other  factories.  The  law  of 
1824  legalized  strikes  and  trades-unions;  that  of  Oct.  15, 
183 1,  required  wages  in  certain  industries  to  be  paid  in 
money.  To-day  England  possesses  a  voluminous  code  of 
laws  relating  to  trades-unions,  payment  of  wages,  suits 
between  employers  and  employees,  work  in  the  mines,  acci- 
dents, employers'  liability,  work  of  women  and  children, 
sanitation,  inspection  of  factories  and  workshops,  arbitra- 
tion, etc.  The  act  of  1878  relating  to  factories  and  work- 
shops codified  and  substantially  re-enacted  the  preceding 
laws  bearing  on  this  subject,  but  it  was  repealed  by  the  act 
of  July  6,  1895,  which  considerably  enlarges  the  duty  and 
authority  of  the  inspectors  as  well  as  the  number  of  estab- 
lishments subject  to  inspection.  At  different  times  and 
with  different  degrees  of  determination,  the  other  European 
powers  have  adopted  the  same  industrial  policy.  In  France 
the  first  law  upon  child-labor  in  factories  was  passed  in 
1841.1 

The  United  States  have  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Eng- 
land. Under  the  influence  of  their  democratic  constitutions 
they  have,  during  the  last  twenty-five  years,  gone  quite  as 
far  as  England  in  the  regulation  of  labor,  and  in  certain 
points  relating  to  the  inspection  and  regulation  of  factories, 


1  A  law  upon  unsanitary  establishments  had  been  passed  in  1810. 
The  law  of  March  22,  1841  was  very  inadequate,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  law  of  May  19,  which  in  turn  was  replaced  by  the  law  of 
November  2,  1892.  In  Prussia  the  oldest  law  upon  child-labor  in 
the  factories  dates  from  1839.  It  was  superseded  by  the  imperial 
law  of  July  17,  1878.  Child-labor  has  been  regulated  in  Switzerland 
since  the  law  of  March  23,  1877;  in  the  Low  Countries  since  the 
law  of  September  19,  1874  (superseded  by  the  law  of  May  5,  1889); 
in  Spain  since  the  law  of  July  24,  1873. 


106  The  American  Laborer 

they  have  gone  even  further.  The  freedom  of  labor,  how- 
ever, which  is  everywhere  a  constitutional  right,  has  been 
steadily  maintained. 


LABOR  LEGISLATION  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES 

Factory  laws  of  Massachusetts. — Massachusetts  must  be 
mentioned  first  as  her  laws  have  served  as  models  for  many 
other  states.  As  early  as  1836  the  instruction  of  working 
children  was  made  compulsory  in  Massachusetts  and  in 
1866  child-labor  was  regulated  by  law,  a  commission  being 
appointed  in  the  same  year  to  investigate  the  general  ques- 
tion of  the  hours  of  labor.  In  1869  the  first  bureau  of  sta- 
tistics of  labor  in  the  United  States  was  established  in  Mas- 
sachusetts. In  1874  the  hours  of  female  labor  were  regu- 
lated, and  this  was  followed  in  1877  by  the  first  law  for 
the  general  inspection  of  factories.  The  Massachusetts 
laws  are  contained  in  the  Public  Statutes  of  1882,  and  in  a 
series  of  subsequent  acts.2  Almost  every  year  has  brought 
to  light  subjects  for  new  restrictive  legislation.  At  the 
present  time  Massachusetts  has  a  corps  of  inspectors  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor,  who  form  part  of  the  police  de- 
partment, and  in  certain  cities  there  are  special  inspectors. 
All  of  these  have  authority  to  enter  workshops  at  any  time. 

The  construction  of  new  factories  is  under  the  supervision 
of  these  inspectors,  and  the  plans  have  to  be  submitted  to 
them.  All  openings  of  elevators,  hoistways,  etc.,  must  be 
protected  by  trap-doors  or  self-closing  hatches;  elevators 
must  be  regularly  examined,  and  inspectors  are  authorized 
to  close  them,  when  dangerous,  by  posting  a  prohibitory 
placard  at  the  entrance.     Workrooms  must  be  kept  clean 

2  See  Second  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  1896, 
pp.  428-483.  By  a  coincidence  which  is  easily  explained  Coi. 
Wright  also  selects  Massachusetts  as  an  example  in  his  Industrial 
Evolution.  When  this  chapter  was  written  I  had  not  become  ac- 
quainted with  that  work. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  107 

and  well  ventilated.  Detailed  regulations  relating  to 
plumbing  and  drainage  have  been  enacted,  and  a  sufficient 
number  of  toilet  rooms  must  be  provided,  with  separate 
accommodations  for  men  and  women.  If  in  the  judgment 
of  an  inspector  the  factory  is  not  kept  in  a  cleanly  state,  or 
if  nuisances  are  created  by  effluvia  from  drains,  etc.,  it  is 
his  duty  to  order,  and  the  duty  of  the  owner  or  occupant 
to  make,  the  necessary  changes.  Upon  the  refusal  or  neg- 
lect of  the  latter  to  comply,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  inspector 
to  notify  the  Board  of  Health,  which  in  turn  must  enforce 
the  law.  No  machine,  except  a  steam-engine,  may  be 
cleaned  while  running.  The  use  of  whistles,  bells,  etc.,  as 
signals  to  employees,  is  prohibited  unless  a  permit  has  been 
secured  from  the  municipal  authorities. 

There  has  been  a  great  change  in  the  appearance  and 
condition  of  factories  in  the  last  fifty  years,  although  the 
change  has  been  wrought  by  machinery  and  public  opinion, 
rather  than  by  law.  The  old-fashioned  factory  was  small, 
the  ceiling  low,  the  ventilation  and  lighting  very  imperfect; 
in  winter,  heat  was  supplied  by  stoves.  At  present,  the 
size  of  the  machinery  necessitates  larger  shops  and  higher 
ceilings;  steam-engines  are  so  cheap  that  waterpower  may 
be  dispensed  with,  and  in  consequence  the  manufacturer  is 
not  forced  to  locate  in  some  narrow  valley  of  the  mountain- 
ous districts.  In  America,  as  in  Europe,  factory  life  has 
become  healthier  and  happier. 

Precautions  against  fire. — Inspectors  are  particularly  di- 
rected to  see  that  sufficient  precautions  are  taken  against 
fire.  The  doors  of  workrooms  cannot  be  locked  during 
working  hours  and,  when  required  by  inspectors,  must  open 
outwardly.  The  use  of  wooden  pipes  for  hot-air  and  steam 
is  prohibited  and  no  metal  pipe  may  be  placed  nearer  than 
one  inch  to  any  woodwork  without  being  protected  by  cas- 
ings of  some  incombustible  material.  Every  story  above 
the  second  must  be  provided  with  apparatus  for  extinguish- 
ing fire.  Where  steam  machinery  is  used,  communication 
must   be  established   between   the    engine-room    and    each 


108  The  American  Laborer 

room  in  which  a  machine  is  placed.  In  Boston  the  fire 
commissioners  have  the  right  of  inspecting  boilers  and  en- 
gines, and  of  prohibiting  their  use,  if  examination  seems  to 
warrant  such  prohibition.  Every  boiler  must  be  provided 
with  a  fusible  safety-plug  of  stipulated  dimensions. 

Fire  is  a  very  redoubtable  enemy  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  law  in  regard  to  fire-escapes,  not  only  in  Massa- 
chusetts but  in  most  other  states,  is  very  strict. 2a  All  fac- 
tories, hotels  and  apartment  houses  must  have  exterior  iron 
escapes,  provided  with  landings  and  railings,  easily  acces- 
sible from  the  windows  of  the  higher  stories,  and  reaching 
to  the  ground.  New  buildings  are  provided  with  these  es- 
capes, while  they  are  added  to  old  structures  as  the  police 
demand.  Certain  quarters  of  the  large  cities,  particularly 
in  New  York,  present  a  very  peculiar  appearance.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  factories  and  stores  there  is  a  large  number 
of  tenement  houses,  all  with  great  red-brick  walls  monot- 
onously dotted  by  rows  of  bare  windows,  along  which  bal- 
conies creep,  connected  by  queer  iron  ladders  painted  black 
or  white,  and  inclined  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees  or 
more. 

The  precautions  are  not  unnecessary,  for  the  papers  con- 
tinually contain  accounts  of  fires.  The  regular  level  pre- 
mium insurance  companies — there  are  in  addition  about 
650  mutual  insurance  societies — paid  out  $146,704,582  to 
policyholders  in  1899.3  It  *s  true  that  about  nine-tenths  of 
the  buildings  in  the  suburbs  and  country  are  constructed 
of  wood.4  But  in  the  cities  the  buildings  are  generally  of 
brick,  and  I  have  passed  through  scarcely  a  single  city  with- 

'■'a  Twenty-eight  states  have  now  passed  laws  making  provision 
for  proper  fire-escapes.  Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission  on 
Labor  Legislation,  p.   100.     [Tr.j 

3  In  France  the  insurance  companies  (excluding  mutual  or  as- 
sessment societies)  paid  out  about  50,000.000  francs  annually  from 
1878  to  1888. 

4  Some  idea  of  the  proportion  of  wooden  houses  may  be  obtained 
from  the  statistics  of  school  buildings.  In  1891  out  of  12.072 
school-houses  in  the  State  of  New  York,  10,171  were  of  wood. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  109 

out  seeing  the  ruins  of  some  fire.  One  recalls  the  terrible 
Chicago  fire  of  1871,  which  destroyed  17,500  houses  and 
caused  a  loss  of  $200,000,000.  When  I  visited  Chicago 
in  1876  I  saw  whole  blocks  entirely  bare  or  covered  only 
with  blackened  beams.  In  1893  when  I  visited  Fargo,  North 
Dakota,  150  houses  had  been  burned  two  months  before, 
but  50  of  them  had  already  been  rebuilt  to  the  second  story 
and  the  principal  street  was  so  encumbered  with  building 
materials  that  a  carriage  could  not  pass  through. 

At  first  I  was  very  much  astonished  that  houses  of  brick 
and  iron  should  so  frequently  take  fire,  but  I  very  soon 
noticed  that  the  interiors  were  almost  wholly  of  wood  and 
that  the  brick  walls  were  so  very  thin  as  to  offer  but  little 
resistance.  Under  the  influence  of  the  heat  the  iron  frame- 
work and  floors  expand,  twist  and  dislodge  all  the  masonry. 
I  have  seen  houses,  particularly  in  Chicago,  of  which  noth- 
ing remained  but  twisted  heaps  of  blackened  iron  resting 
on  a  pile  of  ashes. 

Laws  relating  to  factory  employees  and  accidents. — I  now 
return  to  the  brief  analysis  of  the  laws  of  Massachusetts; 
I  shall  speak  further  on  of  the  regulation  of  the  labor  of 
women  and  children.  Five  legal  holidays  have  been  cre- 
ated, and  in  1887  a  sixth,  Labor  Day,  was  added,  which 
comes  on  the  first  Monday  of  September. 

"  Whoever  on  the  Lord's  day  keeps  open  his  shop,  ware- 
house or  workhouse,  or  does  any  manner  of  labor,  business, 
or  work,  except  works  of  necessity  and  charity  .  .  .  shall 
be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  fifty  dollars  for  each 
offense."  Among  the  persons  and  industries  excepted  are 
transportation,  the  printing  of  newspapers,  the  making  of 
butter  and  cheese,  the  sale  of  bread  and  of  milk,  and  those 
people  who  observe  the  seventh  day  as  the  Sabbath.5 

Every  employer  who  requires  notice  from  persons  in  his 
employ,  under  forfeiture  of  wages,  of  their  intention  to  leave 
his  employ,  must  give  a  similar  notice,  under  equal  for- 

5  Acts  of  1895,  chapter  434. 


110  The  American  Laborer 

feiture,  of  his  intention  to  discharge  them.  Every  corpora- 
tion or  joint  stock  company  that  brings  an  alien  laborer 
into  the  commonwealth  must  give  bond  of  $300  that  such 
employee  shall  not  within  two  years  become  a  public 
charge.  Every  manufacturing,  mining,  quarrying,  mer- 
cantile, transportation,  etc.,  corporation  must  pay  their 
employees  weekly  the  wages  earned  to  within  six  days  of 
the  date  of  the  payment,  under  penalty  of  a  fine  not  less 
than  $50  and  not  more  than  $ioo.c  Complaints  of  viola- 
tion of  this  law  must  be  made  within  thirty  days  and  they 
can  be  brought  by  the  employee,  the  chief  of  the  district 
police,  or  by  any  inspector  of  factories.  If  the  corporation 
fails  to  appear  after  being  duly  served  with  process,  judg- 
ment shall  be  rendered  for  the  plaintiff.  The  stockholders 
of  a  corporation  are  jointly  and  severally  liable  for  wages 
due  to  its  operatives  for  services  rendered  within  six 
months  before  the  demand,  and  in  administering  estates 
wages  and  salaries  are  preferred  debts,  ranking  immediately 
after  state  and  federal  dues. 

In  the  textile  manufacture  no  weaver  may  be  fined  for 
imperfections  in  his  work  unless  the  imperfections  are 
plainly  pointed  out  to  him  and  the  amount  of  the  fines  are 
agreed  upon  by  both  parties  concerned., 

All  work  performed  by  a  married  woman  is  presumed  to 
be  performed  on  her  separate  account,  and  wages  must  be 
paid  to  her  in  person  unless  there  is  an  express  agreement 
to  the  contrary.  Suitable  seats  must  be  provided  for  female 
employees,  which  the  latter  are  authorized  to  use  when 
not  actively  engaged.  This  measure  was  vigorously  de- 
bated before  its  first  adoption,  but  it  has  since  been  copied 
in  almost  every  state.7 

Who  should  be  held  responsible  for  accidents  incurred  in 

8  By  the  amendatory  acts  chapter  481  of  the  acts  of  1898  and 
chapter  247  of  the  acts  of  1899,  this  law  has  been  extended  so  as 
to  cover  practically  all  manufacturing  establishments,  contractors 
of  all  kinds  and  persons  engaged  in  the  building  trades  or  in  public 
works.     [Tr.]  7  Acts  of  1804,  chap.  508,  sec.  30. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  111 

the  performance  of  work,  the  employer  or  the  fellow-lab- 
orer? The  question  is  still  unsettled,  in  America  as  in  many 
states  of  Europe,  but  the  tendency  of  statute  law  and  court 
decisions  in  the  United  States  is  to  establish,  except  in  spe- 
cial cases,  the  responsibility  of  the  employer.8  Nevertheless, 
the  employee  must  assume  the  risks  common  to  his  em- 
ployment, and  he  still  remains  responsible  for  his  own  acts 
and  for  injuries  received  from  defective  machinery  which 
he  has  continued  to  use,  knowing  it  to  be  defective.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  employer  becomes  responsible  if  the 
employee  could  not  know  the  risk,  or  if  he  (the  employer) 
has  been  forewarned  of  the  danger  and  has  not  warned  the 
employee. 

When  the  victim  of  an  accident  is  not  subject  to  the 
orders  of  the  master  of  the  workman  who  has  caused  the 
accident,  the  employer  is  generally  held  responsible;  but 
when  the  injured  party  is  a  fellow-servant  of  the  same  mas- 
ter, the  old  common  law  ordinarily  exonerates  the  latter  on 
the  grounds  that  fellow-workmen  should  look  out  for  the 
safety  of  one  another.Sa     The  courts  of  Pennsylvania  have 

8  See  Stimson,  Handbook  to  the  Labor  Law  of  the  United  States, 
p.  160. 

In  France  the  whole  subject  of  employer's  liability  has  been 
regulated  by  the  law  of  April  9,  1898.  Indemnity  for  injuries  re- 
ceived in  the  course  of  employment  must  be  paid  by  the  employer, 
the  indemnity  being  graduated  according  to  the  gravity  of  the  in- 
jury and  the  wages  of  the  workman,  and  being  limited  to  em- 
ployees whose  wages  do  not  exceed  2,400  francs  a  year.  In  case 
of  death,  the  wife,  children  and  parents  of  the  victim  are  entitled  to 
a  pension.  [In  the  United  States,  general  acts  defining  the  lia- 
bility of  employers  have  been  passed  in  North  and  South  Dakota, 
California,  and  Montana.] 

8a  Eleven  states  and  territories  have  passed  statutes  "  which  do 
away  with  the  fellow-servant  doctrine  entirely,  making  the  em- 
ployer liable  in  all  cases  of  accident,  whether  caused  by  fellow- 
servants  or  not,  unless  primarily  caused  by  negligence,  or  by  con- 
tributory negligence  of  the  person  injured."  Five  other  states 
attempt  to  define  who  are  fellow-servants,  and  one  territory  and 
five  states  have  enacted  that  "  no  person  shall  be  deemed  a  fellow- 
servant  who  is  in  position  to  give  orders  to  the  person  injured." 
In  some  states  these  laws  apply  only  to  railroad  employees.  Report 
of  the  Industrial  Commission  on  Labor  Legislation,  pp.  77-82.     [Tr.] 


112  The  American  Laborer 

for  many  years  refused  to  make  the  employer  liable  when 
a  workman  is  injured  through  the  carelessness  of  another 
workman,  taking  the  position  that  employees  will  be  more 
cautious  if  their  mistakes  are  not  charged  to  the  employer. 
Publicists  have  repeatedly  pointed  out  the  absurdity  of  de- 
nying damages  to  a  brakeman  for  injuries  received  from 
a  switchman  who  may  live  a  hundred  miles  from  the  brake- 
man,  and  be  totally  unknown  to  him.  Several  states  have 
passed  statutes  making  the  employer  liable  in  such  cases. 
In  Pennsylvania  the  employer  is  of  course  held  respon- 
sible if  he  has  not  taken  all  the  precautions  required  by  law. 
But  "  in  the  absence  of  definite  proof  of  some  negligence 
which  directly  or  naturally  results  in  injury  to  the  employee, 
the  accident  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  hazards  of  the  em- 
ployment of  which  the  servant  takes  the  risk  and  for  which 
there  can  be  no  recovery." '  The  liability  of  the  employer 
is  increased  where  the  employee  is  a  minor,  but  it  is  shared 
by  the  parent  or  guardian  who  permits  a  child  to  accept 
dangerous  work.  If  a  machine  is  found  to  be  defective, 
the  employee  must  notify  his  employer  and  if  it  is  known 
that  the  latter  was  warned  or  if  he  should  have  known  of 
the  defect  himself,  he  is  held  liable.  An  employee  is  not 
compelled  to  stay  at  work  in  a  dangerous  place,  but  if  he 
does  remain  it  is  at  his  own  risk.  A  workman  injured 
while  riveting  a  boiler  through  the  incompetence  of  his 
helper,  can  hold  the  employer  responsible  for  the  conse- 
quences of  the  incompetency.10 


"  Report  of  the  {Pennsylvania)  Bureau  of  Industrial  Statistics,  1883, 
p.  E  2. 

10  According  to  Mr.  Bolles  the  courts  have  so  firmly  established 
the  principle  of  the  irresponsibility  of  employers  for  their  acts  of 
negligence,  that  damages  against  them  are  rarely  obtained.  Mr. 
Bolles  does  not  wholly  approve  of  this  doctrine,  but  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  liberty  and  immunity  of  employers  have  constituted  a 
powerful  industrial  stimulus,  questions  whether  the  doctrine  has 
not  been  more  profitable  to  the  laboring  class  than  detrimental  to 
individual  laborers.  See  Reports  of  the  (Pennsylz'ania)  Bureau  of  In- 
dustrial Statistics  for  1890  and  1S93. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  113 

Alabama11  was  the  first  state  to  go  as  far  as  England  in 
defining  employers'  liability.  When  a  servant  or  employee 
receives  a  personal  injury  in  the  service  of  a  master  or 
employer,  the  latter  is  liable  to  damages  as  if  the  employee 
were  a  stranger,  whether  the  injury  be  caused  by  reason  of 
any  defect  in  the  plant  or  machinery  connected  with  the 
business,  or  by  the  negligence  of  any  person  having  super- 
intendence or  the  right  to  issue  orders  intrusted  to  him, 
provided  the  injury  resulted  from  having  conformed  to 
these  orders;  or  whether  it  be  caused  by  the  act  of  any 
person  done  in  obedience  to  the  rules  and  regulations  es- 
tablished by  the  employer.  But  the  employer  is  not  re- 
sponsible if  the  employee  knew  of  the  defect  or  negligence 
and  failed  to  notify  him.  However,  the  responsibility  does 
rest  upon  the  employer  if  he  was  already  aware,  or  if  by 
taking  proper  precautions  he  would  have  been  aware,  of 
the  defect  which  caused  the  injury. 

In  1887  12  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  enacted  a  law 
very  similar  to  the  one  passed  in  Alabama.  In  1890  this 
law  was  amplified  upon  the  showing  of  a  commission  that 
out  of  ten  cases  involving  the  law  of  1887,  only  one  em- 
ployee had  received  any  compensation.  On  the  other  hand, 
statistics  published  by  the  railroads  show  that  out  of  eighty- 
three  deaths,  seventy-seven  resulted  from  the  negligence 
of  the  victim,." 

The  present  law  of  Massachusetts  requires  employers  to 
send  to  the  district  chief  of  police  written  notices  of  every 
accident  in  their  establishments,  whenever  the  accident 
results  in  the  death  of  an  employee  or  so  injures  him  that 
he  cannot  return  to  work  within  four  days  after  the  acci- 

11  Code  of  1886,  part  iii,  sec.  2590. 

12  For  this  law  and  the  Alabama  statute  mentioned  above,  see  the 
Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  48-52. 

13  See  among  other  documents  the  Eleventh  Annual  Report  of  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  Jersey,  "  Employers'  Liability,"  and  the 
Report  of  the  (Pennsylvania)  Bureau  of  Industrial  Statistics,  vol.  xix, 
"  Liability  of  Employers." 


114  The  American  Laborer 

dent.  When  an  employee  is  killed  or  wounded  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  work  and  the  cause  can  be  shown  to  lie  in  any 
defect  of  "  ways,  works  or  machinery,"  or  in  the  negligence 
of  a  co-employee,  damages  may  be  recovered  which  shall 
not  exceed  $4,000  in  cases  of  personal  injury,  nor  $5,000 
when  death  results  and  the  action  is  maintained  by  the 
widow  or  relatives  dependent  upon  the  deceased  for  sup- 
port. Notice  must  be  given  the  employer  within  thirty 
days,  and  action  commenced  within  one  year,  of  the  date 
of  the  accident. 

I  shall  stop  at  this  point,  as  it  is  not  my  intention  to 
write  a  legal  treatise  and  the  tendencies  of  the  court  de- 
cisions in  the  various  states  are  exceedingly  diverse;  a  mere 
indication  of  the  law  and  its  interpretation  is  sufficient  here. 
Most  of  the  states  have  passed  a  law  nullifying  contracts 
between  employees  and  employers  in  which  the  former  re- 
nounce their  right  of  compensation  for  personal  injury. 
But  none  of  them  have  furnished  statistics  from  which  to 
judge  the  results  of  this  legislation. 

Laws  upon  the  payment  of  wages. — How  often  and  in 
what  form  should  wages  be  paid?  Weekly  payment  seems 
best,  because  the  temptation  to  extravagance  is  less  when 
expenditure  closely  follows  receipt,  and  this  would  satisfy 
the  labor  unions.  However,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
the  weekly  payment  indispensable,  and  in  certain  industries 
it  is  very  inconvenient  to  pay  more  than  once  or  twice  a 
month.  The  important  thing  is  to  have  the  payments  regu- 
lar and  not  too  far  apart. 

And  in  manufactures,  if  not  in  agriculture,  it  is  also  im- 
portant that  wages  be  paid  in  current  money,  as  the  labor 
party  demands.  For  the  laborer  it  is  one  condition  of  his 
freedom.  This  mode  of  payment  does  not  exclude  certain 
forms  of  remuneration  in  kind,  such  as  coal  to  miners,  nor 
even  company  stores,  where  the  works  are  situated  at  a 
great  distance  from  commercial  centers.  But  the  direc- 
tion of  these  stores  requires  great  prudence  and  presents 
difficult   problems.     If  the   management  sell  at   wholesale 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  115 

prices,  it  is  of  course  advantageous  to  the  employee,  but 
where  a  profit  is  charged  there  is  usually  a  sort  of  dishonest 
speculation  and  an  underhand  confiscation  of  wages.  Cash 
payments  ought  to  be  the  rule  from  which  no  deviation 
should  be  made  except  in  urgent  cases:  to  do  otherwise  is 
to  charge  the  laborer  interest  without  permitting  him  to 
contract  a  debt.  An  advance  made  by  the  employer, 
whether  it  be  of  money  or  in  kind,  is  a  bond  of  servitude. 
Payments  in  kind  can  also  become  oppressive. 

"  Now,  we  claim,"  said  a  stone-cutter,  in  his  evidence 
before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Education  and  Labor, 
"  that  there  is  more  than  one  way  to  rob  the  workingman. 
One  way  is  by  paying  him  but  little  for  his  labor.  Another 
way  is  by  paying  him  when  they  please  to  pay  him,  keeping 
him  waiting  one,  two,  or  three  months  behind,  and  actually 
working  on  his  money;  now  this  state  of  things  existed  in 
Rhode  Island,  in  Connecticut,  and  in  the  State  of  Maine; 
hence  such  oppression  led  the  men  to  organize  together 
in  a  band.  .  .  ." 14 

According  to  an  old  custom  which  lasted  in  many  places, 
New  England,  for  instance,  until  after  the  middle  of  the 
present  century,  laborers  were  paid  off  at  the  end  of  the 
year  both  in  agriculture  and  manufactures,  the  employer 
making  advances  before  the  day  of  settlement,  according 
to  the  needs  of  the  laborer.15  Strangely  enough  the  laborer 
was  charged  interest  to  the  end  of  the  year  on  these  ad- 
vances.18    Among  other  concessions  won  by  the  laboring 

14  Labor  and  Capital,  Investigation  of  Senate  Committee  on  Education 
and  Labor,  1885,  vol.  i,  p.  662. 

15  F.  A.  Walker,  The  Wages  Question,  p.  123.  In  1886  the  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  of  Connecticut  made  a  special  report  upon  this 
question,  in  which  he  recites  the  arguments  pro  and  con,  and  gives 
the  usage  in  various  states.  He  concludes  that  the  money  payment 
is  preferable  for  the  laborer,  that  weekly  payment  is  not  as  diffi- 
cult as  has  been  supposed,  though  exceptions  have  to  be  admitted, 
and  that  in  no  event  should  wages  serve  as  a  security  for  debts. 
Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  Connecticut, 
p.  10. 

18  General  Walker  explains  this  anomalv  by  the  scarcity  of  capi- 
tal. 


116  The  American  Laborer 

classes  between  1847  and  i860,  Mr.  McNeill  cites  the  sub- 
stitution of  weekly  and  monthly,  for  quarterly  and  semi- 
annual, payments.17 

Inspired  by  the  English  law  of  1831,  many  of  the  legisla- 
tures have  recently  passed  laws  which  require  wages  to  be 
paid  frequently  and  in  current  money.  New  York  in  1889 
and  1890,  and  New  Hampshire,  Illinois  and  Rhode  Island 
in  1891,  made  weekly  payment  obligatory  by  law;  in  Ten- 
nessee, Missouri  and  Wyoming  certain  industries  are  re- 
quired to  pay  at  least  once  a  month;  in  1896  fourteen  states 
had  made  weekly  or  fortnightly  payment  obligatory.18 
Whether  these  laws  are  not  unconstitutional  as  infringe- 
ments of  the  freedom  of  contract,  is  a  question  which  has 
not  been  definitely  decided.18* 

17  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  123.  Most  of  the  states  have  made  un- 
paid wages  preferred  debts  in  cases  of  bankruptcy.  In  the  states 
in  which  coal-mining  is  an  important  industry,  the  question  wheth- 
er miners  should  be  paid  according  to  the  amount  of  screened  or 
according  to  the  amount  of  unscreened  coal,  has  given  rise  to  much 
legislation. 

18  See  Stimson's  Handbook,  p.  87.  These  laws  are  not  exactly 
the  same  in  the  several  states,  applying  only  to  mining  companies 
in  some  states,  and  in  others  to  corporations  only.  According  to 
the  different  laws,  payment  must  be  weekly,  semi-monthly  or 
monthly;  it  must  be  in  money  or  it  may  be  in  checks;  in  Kansas, 
it  may  be  in  orders  upon  stores,  provided  the  employer  is  not  in- 
terested in  such  stores.  The  Rhode  Island  law  which  applies  only 
to  corporations  has  been  upheld.  In  all  other  states  in  which  these 
laws  have  been  tested,  except  Massachusetts,  they  have  been  held 
unconstitutional  when  applied  to  natural  persons.  Mr.  Stimson 
says,  p.  97:  "  Such  laws  are  probably  valid  only  as  to  corporations, 
in  states  which  have  a  provision  that  their  charters  may  be 
amended,  except  in  those  states  which,  like  Illinois,  provide  that 
it  shall  only  be  done  by  general  law."  Laws  regulating  the 
medium  of  wage-payments  have  also  been  declared  unconstitutional 
in  several  states.     (Ibid.,  p.   105.) 

1Sa  Twenty-two  states  have  passed  laws  requiring  wages  to  be  paid 
weekly,  bi-weekly  or  monthly.  In  Connecticut  only  80  per  cent 
must  be  paid  weekly,  in  Maine  the  law  applies  only  to  employers 
having  ten  or  more  employees,  in  a  few  states  it  applies  only  to 
corporations,  and  in  others  it  applies  only  to  mining  and  manu- 
facturing industries.  Weekly  payment  laws  applicable  to  all  classes 
of  labor  have  generally  been  held  unconstitutional,  except  in  Mas- 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  117 

In  certain  parts  of  the  West  and  South  the  custom  of 
paying  at  long  intervals  is  still  in  vogue.  It  is  here  that 
one  finds  the  "  company  store,"  stocked  with  clothing,  food, 
and  all  kinds  of  provisions  for  the  use  of  the  employees. 
On  pay-day  the  men  are  paid  partly  in  money  and  partly 
in  "  trade  checks,"  good  only  at  the  stores  of  the  company, 
and  it  is  customary  to  charge  a  profit  on  the  goods  with 
which  these  checks  are  redeemed.  In  one  case,  not  the 
worst  which  was  called  to  my  attention,  this  profit  ex- 
ceeded four  hundred  per  cent.,  the  company  thus  withdraw- 
ing with  one  hand  what  it  gave  with  the  other.  These 
stores,  known  in  Pennsylvania  as  "  pluck-me  stores,"  and 
in  fact  the  whole  truck  system  have  the  additional  vices, 
when  the  employer  is  accommodating,  of  inviting  extrava- 
gant expenditures  on  the  part  of  the  laborer  and  of  binding 
him  to  the  employer  by  debt,  like  the  Mexican  peon.  "  In 
very  many  instances,"  says  Col.  Wright,  "  the  workmen  of 
such  an  establishment  never  saw  any  money  from  one  year's 
end  to  another.  The  pay  for  the  goods  purchased  was  se- 
cured by  the  pay-rolls,  and  the  debts  and  credits  left  no 
margin  on  pay-day." 19 

In  a  report  to  the  Ministre  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  M. 
Bruwaert,  who  was  then  consul-general  at  Chicago,  ex- 
pressed himself  as  follows:  "Abuses  are  still  common. 
A  workman  may  not  be  paid  until  the  last  of  August  for 
work  done  in  the  first  part  of  July;  this  is  the  practice  of  a 
number  of  mining  companies,  for  instance.  If  the  work- 
man has  need  of  a  payment  on  account  in  the  interval,  he 
is  paid  with  due  bills  redeemable  in  two  years,.  Both  the 
company  and  certain  friends  of  the  company  discount  these 


sachusetts,  and  similar  laws  applicable  only  to  corporations  or 
special  industries,  while  usually  sustained,  have  been  declared  in- 
valid in  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  Missouri,  West  Virginia  and  other 

states.     Industrial   Commission Labor   Legislation,    pp.    55-57. 

[Tr.] 

19  Carroll  D.  Wright,  "  Value  and  Use  of  Labor  Statistics,"  En- 
gineering Magazine,  Nov.,  1893,  P-  J39- 


118  The  American  Laborer 

bills,  and  the  workman  must  either  discount  them  in  this 
way,  at  a  loss  of  twenty-five  per  cent.,  or  present  them  at 
certain  specified  stores  which  receive  the  bills  as  cash  but 
charge  about  fifty  per  cent,  extra  for  goods  furnished  on 
the  company's  account."  20 

The  laws  which  have  been  passed  to  prevent  this  practice 
in  Illinois,  Washington,  Pennsylvania a  and  elsewhere, 
seem  to  have  had  little  real  efficiency.  Managers  evade 
them  by  running  stores  under  other  names. 

In  1875  Mr.  Gunton  found  the  truck-system  in  operation 
in  many  of  the  small  towns  of  New  England,  except  in 
Vermont.  Many  families,  he  says,  had  been  in  debt  ever 
since  their  arrival,  and  others  never  touched  a  dollar  in 
money.  In  his  opinion  the  system  was  still  in  common 
usage  in  the  central  part  of  the  country  as  late  as  1893,  and 
indeed,  still  existed  in  certain  parts  of  the  East."  The  cen- 
sus of  1880  showed  that  out  of  773  manufacturers  who  re- 
plied to  the  question  concerning  the  mode  of  payment, 
twenty-two  per  cent.,  situated  mostly  in  thinly-settled  dis- 
tricts, paid  partly  in  kind.  In  spite  of  a  multitude  of  pro- 
tective laws,  the  settlement  of  disputes  concerning  wages 
is  often  difficult  in  the  United  States.  Wages  are  not  pre- 
ferred debts  in  all  states,  there  are  no  special  courts  for 
these  questions,  and  justice  through  the  regular  channels 
is  too  costly  for  the  workingman.  In  most  states  wages 
are  protected  either  in  whole  or  part  against  attachment 
for  debt,  although  in  some  states  the  debtor  is  exempt  only 
when  he  has  a  family. 


20  Recueil  de  rapports  stir  les  conditions  du  travail  dans  les  pays 
etr  angers  addresses  au  Ministre  dcs  Affaires  Etrangeres,  p.  80. 

21  See  Stimson's  Handbook,  p.  109.  [In  Maryland  (applicable  to 
mines  and  railroads  only)  and  in  Pennsylvania  and  Illinois  (appli- 
cable to  mining  and  manufacturing  corporations  only)  employers 
have  been  forbidden  by  law  to  run  general  supply  stores.  But  in 
Illinois  and  Pennsylvania  the  laws  have  been  declared  unconstitu- 
tional.    Industrial  Commission  ....  Labor  Legislation,  pp.  59.  60.] 

22  Gunton,  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  103. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  119 

II. 

THE  WORKING   DAY 

Origin  and  history. — At  present  the  agitation  for  a  shorter 
working  day  is  perhaps  even  more  active  in  America  than 
in  Europe.  In  studying  the  question  it  is  well  to  distin- 
guish, as  far  as  possible,  the  fact,  the  theory  and  the  law. 
The  fact  consists  of  the  actual  length  of  the  working  day 
and  the  efforts  made  to  reduce  it;  the  theory  consists  of  the 
claims  of  the  labor  party  and  the  objections  of  employers; 
the  definite  action  taken  by  governments  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion, constitutes  the  law. 

In  running  over  the  records  of  the  past  we  find  that  in 
1806  a  body  of  ship-carpenters  formed  a  union  with  the  ob- 
ject of  reducing  hours  from  fourteen  to  ten,  but  their  de- 
mands were  dismissed  by  the  ship-builders  as  a  capricious 
attempt  to  dictate  the  conditions  of  employment.  In  1832 
an  association  of  carpenters  in  Boston  struck  for  a  ten- 
hour  day,  but  without  success;  similar  attempts  in  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  however,  were  more  successful.  In 
1834  the  trades-unions  of  New  York  made  a  grand  demon- 
stration in  which  banners  were  displayed  inscribed  with  the 
motto:  "  Ten  hours  a  day." 

At  that  time,  according  to  Mr.  North,  the  day  consisted 
of  fourteen  hours  or  more  in  the  textile  factories  of  Massa- 
chusetts. In  summer,  work  began  at  sunrise  and  ended  at 
sunset,  in  winter  it  lasted  until  nine  o'clock,  but  there  were 
three  stops  for  meals,  so  that  there  were  only  about  twelve 
hours  of  effective  work.  In  1855  this  was  reduced  in  some 
factories  to  eleven  or  eleven  and  a  half.2*  In  Baltimore, 
however,  a  ten-hour  day  had  been  obtained  as  early  as  1840. 

In  June,  1845,  several  thousand  operatives  met  in  conven- 

28  Bulletin  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers,  vol. 
xxv,  p.  283.  An  ordinance  of  1841  fixed  the  legal  day's  labor  at 
eleven  hours  in  summer  and  nine  in  winter,  without  counting  time 
for  meals.  See  the  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  Connecticut, 
1887,  p.  156. 


120  The  American  Laborer 

tion  at  Pittsburg  and  in  a  circular  addressed  to  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  country,  demanded  a  ten-hour  day.  Five 
cotton  manufacturers  united  in  the  following  response: 
"  The  undersigned  manufacturers  .  .  .  beg  leave  to  say  that 
although  they  do  not  admit  the  right  of  persons  interfering 
between  them  and  their  operatives,  .  .  .  yet  they  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  they  believe  it  entirely  impracti- 
cable to  adopt  that  system  here  whilst  in  places  the  twelve- 
hour  system  is  continued.  They  would  inform  you 
further  that  at  present  our  mills  run  about  sixty-eight  hours 
per  week,  whilst  the  eastern  factories  of  our  country  make 
seventy-two  hours  per  week.  Believing,  therefore,  that 
the  enforcement  of  such  a  system  here  would  drive  all  cot- 
ton machinery  from  our  borders,  we  cannot  favor  it." ' 
This  reply  was  followed  by  a  strike  in  which  4,000  opera- 
tives participated,  but  the  reduction  was  not  secured. 

In  the  same  year,  1845,  petitions  were  addressed  to  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts  praying  for  a  reduction  to 
eleven  hours  in  manufacturing  corporations  which  rested 
upon  charters  granted  by  the  state.  The  petition  was  re- 
fused because,  they  said,  it  would  be  unjust  to  treat  cor- 
porations differently  from  private  persons,  and  the  law 
"  would  close  the  gate  of  every  mill  in  the  state."  : 

The  first  public  action  in  this  matter  dates  from  the  year 
1840.  On  the  tenth  of  April,  1840,  President  Van  Buren 
issued  an  order  directing  that  ten  hours  should  thereafter 
constitute  a  day's  work  in  all  public  establishments.  The 
first  "  industrial  convention,"  an  aftermath  of  the  Pitts- 
burg convention,  was  held  in  New  York  in  1845  and  a 
second  in  Chicago  in  1850.  The  object  of  both  was  to  se- 
cure a  ten-hour  day.  "  Such  persistency  was  not  without 
effect,  and  by  1853  eleven  hours  became  the  general  custom 

24  The  Labor  Movement,  ed.  by  G.  E.  McNeill,  1887,  p.  103.  At 
the  passage  of  the  law  of  1874  in  Massachusetts,  the  manufacturers 
asserted  that  they  would  be  unable  to  withstand  the  competition 
of  neighboring  states  unless  the  latter  passed  similar  laws. 

25  Wright,  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  269. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  121 

for  artisans.  In  some  places  factories  still  ran  for  more 
hours,  but  by  1865  strikes  had  brought  eleven  hours  as  the 
general  maximum  in  factories." :  Air.  Danryid  might 
have  mentioned  in  particular,  the  cotton  factories  of  New 
England,  in  many  of  which  the  work  lasted  only  ten  hours. 

In  California  a  Mr.  Kearneay^  became  impressed  with  the 
distress  caused  by  the  lack  of  work,  and  started  an  agitation 
which  resulted  in  the  convocation  of  an  assembly  of  5,000 
workingmen  in  San  Francisco  in  December,  1865.  A  reso- 
lution in  favor  of  an  eight-hour  day  was  there  passed  and 
a  bill  embodying  the  sentiments  of  the  convention  was 
drawn  up  and  presented  to  the  legislature.  In  February, 
1868,  after  the  next  election,  the  bill  was  enacted  into  law 
by  a  unanimous  vote.  But  it  soon  became  plain  that  the 
difficulty  was  one  which  could  not  be  settled  by  legislative 
action.21 

The  year  1866,  in  which  Massachusetts  passed  its  well- 
known  law  restricting  the  hours  of  labor  of  children,  saw 
the  formation  of  a  huge  association  of  laborers — The  Na- 
tional Labor  Union — which  devoted  itself  among  other 
labor  reforms  to  the  task  of  reducing  the  hours  of  labor. 
This  association  went  to  pieces  during  the  crisis  of  1873, 
but  new  unions  were  formed  in  several  cities.  One  proces- 
sion in  New  York,  organized  to  show  the  strength  of  the 
eight-hour  movement,  contained  twenty  thousand  men. 

After  a  number  of  petitions  had  been  presented  to  Con- 
gress, and  several  bills  upon  the  subject  had  been  intro- 
duced, Congress  finally  passed  the  bill  drawn  up  by  Mr. 
Ingersol  of  Illinois,  and  it  became  a  law  on  June  25,  1868. 
It  provided  that  eight  hours  should  constitute  a  day's  work 
for  all  laborers,  workmen  and  mechanics  employed  by  the 
United  States.  The  law  was  not  regarded  by  the  heads  of 
the  various  departments,  and  in   1869,  and  again  in   1872, 

26  Lemuel  Danryid,  History  and  Philosophy  of  the  Eight-Hour  Move- 
ment, p.  5. 

27  Employers  evaded  the  law  by  hiring  their  men  by  the  hour, 
and  not  by  the  day. 


122  The  American  Laborer 

President  Grant  issued  orders  directing  that  the  statute  be 
observed,  without  reduction  of  wages.  In  spite  of  these 
orders  the  law  was  disregarded  and  a  second  statute  was 
enacted  in  1872.  About  this  time  the  Columbia  Typo- 
graphical Society  of  Washington  complained  against  a 
reduction  of  wages  which  had  been  made  in  the  Navy  Yard. 
The  President  submitted  the  question  to  the  Attorney- 
General,  and  the  latter  decided  that  the  reduction  to  eight 
hours  did  not  imply  that  the  wages  per  hour  should  be 
greater  than  in  private  employments  of  the  same  nature.28 
The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  fortified  by  this  opinion  and  by 
a  law  of  1862,  directed  the  commandant  of  the  Navy  Yard 
to  make  the  wages  of  the  employees  conform,  "  as  nearly  as 
is  consistent  with  the  public  interests,  to  those  of  private 
establishments  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Navy 
Yards," 

The  success  of  the  labor  party  was  thus  very  modest,  but 
the  members  were  not  discouraged;  public  meetings  were 
held,  strikes  organized,  the  "  Grand  Eight  Hours  League," 
the  "  Boston  Eight  Hours  League,"  *  and  other  associations 
were  formed,  to  secure  the  eight-hour  day.  A  more  de- 
cided success  was  achieved  in  1874.  After  a  great  strike 
had  been  organized  by  the  spinners  of  Fall  River,  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts  passed  a  law  limiting  the  labor 
of  women  and  youths  to  sixty  hours  a  week.  The  bill  was 
passed  only  after  a  long  debate,  and  it  applied  to  youths 


28  McNeill,  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  132. 

:9  In  1872  this  league  adopted  a  resolution  which  described  the 
reduction  in  the  hours  of  labor  as  the  first  step  in  the  emancipation 
of  the  laborer  and  demanded  that  every  manufacturer  working  his 
employees  more  than  eight  hours  a  day  should  be  deprived  of  his 
license.  They  demanded  in  addition  that  the  charter  of  every  city 
and  town  should  enjoin  the  day  of  eight  hours  in  all  public  works, 
that  corporations  should  be  compelled  to  accept  the  eight-hour 
day  or  forfeit  their  charters,  that  no  person  of  legal  age  should 
be  employed  more  than  eight  hours,  and  finally  that  eight  hours 
should  constitute  a  legal  day's  work  in  the  absence  of  a  written 
agreement  to  the  contrary. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  123 

under  eighteen  and  to  women  of  all  ages,  employed  either 
by  corporations  or  by  natural  persons.3" 

The  Knights  of  Labor,  organized  in  1869,  had  already 
made  the  eight-hour  principle  a  part  of  its  programme.  A 
little  later  the  Federation  of  Organized  Trades  and  Labor 
Unions  of  the  United  States  and  Canada  and  its  successor, 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  entered  into  an  enthusi- 
astic propaganda  of  the  same  principle.  In  1866  the  first 
National  Labor  Congress,  held  in  Baltimore,  had  passed  a 
resolution  in  favor  of  an  eight-hour  law.  By  1888  the  Fed- 
eration believed  that  the  cause  was  far  enough  advanced 
to  vote  that  the  general  inauguration  of  the  eight-hour  day 
should  take  place  on  the  first  of  May,  1890.  In  spite  of  the 
propaganda  and  the  victory  won  by  the  carpenters  in  137 
cities,  the  eight-hour  day  has  not  become  universal.  But 
the  first  of  May  remains  a  landmark  in  the  history  of  the 
labor  party. 

The  eight-hour  system  has,  nevertheless,  gained  ground 
in  the  last  ten  years.  Many  unions  have  secured  it  by  spe- 
cial agreements  with  individual  employers,  and  several 
states  have  legalized  it  to  the  extent  to  which  they  believed 
themselves  competent. 

In  the  study  of  this  question  I  shall  distinguish  five  subT 
heads:  the  movement  of  opinion  and  the  action  of  labor- 
unions;  the  agreements  between  private  associations,  prin- 
cipally in  the  building  industry;  the  laws  upon  labor  in 
manufacturing  establishments;  and  the  laws  relating  to 
public  works. 

30  In  1845  a  committee  of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  had 
reported  adversely  on  a  petition  praying  the  legislature  to  limit 
the  labor  of  employees  of  corporations  to  eleven  hours  a  day,  one 
of  the  reasons  being  that  the  change  would  necessitate  a  reduc- 
tion of  wages.  In  1866  another  commission  reported  that  they 
were  favorable  to  the  day  of  ten  hours  but  did  not  believe  that  it 
could  be  secured  by  legislation.  In  1867  the  commission  refused  to 
recommend  a  law  limiting  the  hours  of  labor  of  adults.  The  ten- 
hour  law,  presented  again  and  again,  particularly  after  1870.  was 
not  successful  until  1874,  when  with  the  assistance  of  Gov.  Wash- 
burn, it  at  last  secured  a  majority. 


124  The  American  Laborer 

The  movement  of  opinion  and  the  action  of  unions. — The 
movement  of  opinion  is  at  present  very  marked  among  the 
laboring  classes..  The  school  which,  since  the  time  of  Ira 
Steward,  has  taken  as  its  motto  "  Labor  Movement,"  has 
undertaken  the  mission  of  propagating  and  directing  the 
eight-hour  movement.  Many  young  economists  engaging 
in  this  work  as  followers  of  various  philanthropists  have 
helped  to  accelerate  the  movement.  Enthusiasts  boast, 
sometimes  wildly,  of  the  results  that  have  been  or  may  be 
obtained.  Mr.  George  Gunton  in  reviewing  the  progress 
of  the  workingman  since  1850,  is  struck  with  the  fact  that 
the  hours  of  labor  have  diminished  during  the  same  period. 
He  then  proceeds,  arguing  cum  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc,  to 
attribute  the  first  phenomenon  to  the  second.  Speaking  of 
eight-hour  laws,  he  says:  "There  never  was  any  legisla- 
tion adopted  in  any  country  in  the  world  that  has  yielded 
such  good  economic  fruit." 

The  workingmen  themselves,  when  questioned,  give  an- 
swers very  similar  to  the  following  extracts  which  I  have 
culled  from  the  expressions  of  employees  published  in  the 
first  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  Colorado:" 
"  I  am  in  favor  of  eight  hours  being  established  as  a  day's 
work,  equal  pay  for  equal  work,  half-holidays  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  co-operation  and  arbitration  for  all  labor  diffi- 
culties," wrote  one.  "  In  regard  to  the  eight-hour  system," 
wrote  a  second,  "  I  think  it  one  of  the  best  movements  that 
could  be  inaugurated  for  the  working  people.  I  have 
worked  eight,  nine,  ten,  and  even  fourteen  hours  a  day,  and 
my  experience  teaches  me  that  eight  hours  a  day  is  plenty 
for  any  man  to  work,  no  matter  what  his  pursuit.  For  two 
reasons  it  is  a  great  thing — education  and  health.  I  find, 
working  eight  hours,  that  I  can  get  time  to  become  ac- 
y  quainted  with  my  family,  and  plan  things  that  will  interest 
them,  which  I  never  could  before.  I  make  just  as  much 
money,  and  even  more,  and  hope  to  increase  my  wages  in 

31  Pp.  255-269. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  125 

the  future.  As  for  health,  I  have  improved  wonderfully. 
When  I  worked  ten  hours,  I  weighed  one  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds;  now  I  weigh  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  pounds,  .  .  .  Ten  hours'  work  is  pure  slavery  and  noth- 
ing more."  The  third  is  more  modest:  "  Meat-cutters  and 
butchers  work  fifteen  hours  daily.  The  time  ought  to  be 
shortened  at  least  to  twelve  hours.  For  years  I  have  had 
no  time  to  read  newspapers  nor  attend  meetings  of  organi-/ 
zations.  As  for  going  to  church  on  a  Sunday,  I  couldn't^ 
think  of  it." 

In  1890  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  pub- 
lished the  results  of  an  investigation  of  the  eight-hour 
question.  To  the  inquiry:  "Do  you  approve  of  eight 
hours  as  the  standard  working-day?"  531  labor  organiza- 
tions answered  "  yes,"  25  answered  "  no,"  and  34  made  no 
reply.  "  It  will  give  employment  to  more  men,"  "  will 
afford  more  time  for  study  and  recreation,"  "  would  abol- 
ish overproduction,"  the  organizations  answered.  Many 
affirmed  that  the  reductions  already  secured  had  increased 
the  number  of  workingmen,  though  they  made  no  attempt 
to  discover  the  other  causes  of  this  increase.  The  question: 
"  How  would  an  eight-hour  working-day  affect  wages  in 
your  trade?"  brought  out  a  great  variety  of  opinions,  but 
a  large  majority  of  the  organizations  thought  there  would 
be  no  unfavorable  effect.32  In  1885  the  Wisconsin  Bureau 
conducted  a  similar  investigation  with  the  result  that  437 
firms,  employing  22,646  workmen,  answered  that  they  were 
not  in  favor  of  the  eight-hour  day,  68  employers,  repre- 
senting 2,698  workingmen,  returned  a  favorable  answer, 
233  firms  made  no  reply,  and  20  firms  gave  indefinite  an- 
swers.58 

In  the  Eighth  Annual  Report  of  the  New  York  Bureau  of 
Statistics  of  Labor,3*  Mr.  Peck,  the  Commissioner,  thus 
summed    up    the    principal    arguments    upon    which,    in 


32  Eighth  Report,  p.  516. 

33  Second  Biennial  Report,  p.  360.  M  1890,  pp.  13-16. 


126  The  American  Laborer 

America,  the  eight-hour  theory  rests:  "The  grand  effort 
of  the  workingman  through  all  his  generations  has  been  less 
work  and  more  pay.  It  is  a  perfectly  lawful  and  reason- 
able ambition.  ,  .  .  Better  wages,  healthier  workshops, 
shorter  hours,  are  only  incentives  to  another  effort  after  im- 
provement.    This  time  it  is  an  eight-hour  work  day.  .  .   ." 

"The  eight-hour  advocates  argue  that:  (i)  Labor  cre- 
ates all  wealth;  (2)  The  productive  capacity  of  society  is 
superior  to  the  consumptive  capacity  of  society;  (3)  Eight 
hours  of  labor  per  day  will  furnish  the  maximum  of  pro- 
duction with  the  expenditure  of  a  given  amount  of  physical 
or  mental  force;  (4)  The  worth  of  production  does  not  de- 
pend upon  the  rate  of  wages ;  (5)  The  amount  of  production 
does  not  depend  upon  the  number  of  hours  of  labor  per 
day;  (6)  The  production  of  wealth  is  in  proportion  to  the 
intellectual  and  moral  development  of  producers,  and  this 
development  would  be  helped  by  a  reduction  in  the  hours 
of  labor.  .  .  ."  Six  propositions,  each  containing  a  grain 
of  truth  expanded  into  a  generalization  so  broad  that  it  be- 
comes positively  erroneous. 

In  an  article  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics?* 
written  from  the  standpoint  of  an  economist,  Air.  Charles 
Beardsley,  sets  forth  what  he  believes  would  be  the  results 
of  the  adoption  of  the  eight-hour  day.  Starting  from  the 
principle — which  is  true  enough — that  the  shares  of  the 
three  factors  of  production  are  not  rigidly  fixed,  he  en- 
deavors to  prove  that  the  laborer  may  increase  his  share 
at  the  expense  of  the  other  two  by  restraining  the  competi- 
tion which  results  from  an  abundant  supply  of  labor.  As- 
suming that  the  consumption  of  commodities  and  the  pro- 
ductivity of  labor  remain  the  same,  the  reduction  from  ten 
to  eight  hours  would  necessitate  an  increase  of  one-fifth  in 
the  amount  of  labor  employed,  and  this,  by  furnishing  em- 
ployment to  the  idle,  would  remove  that  destructive  ele- 
ment of  competition  which  is  most  potent  in  depressing  the 

"July.  1895. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  127 

rate  of  wages.  He  believes  that  with  a  better  organiza- 
tion the  workingmen  will  be  able  to  secure  the  reduction, 
and  that  in  all  probability  the  price  of  labor  per  diem  will 
not  be  ultimately  affected.  "  Laborers  are  not  willing  to 
accept  the  shorter  day  along  with  a  heavy  reduction  in, 
wages.  Therefore,  it  is  likely  that  in  the  first  instance  a 
reduction  in  hours  will  be  obtained  in  lieu  of  a  rise  in 
wages.  .  .  .  But  however  the  economic  effects  of  a  reduc- 
tion in  the  hours  of  work  might  be  obscured,  they  would  be 
none  the  less  real.  Daily  wages  would  tend  to  fall,  owing 
to  a  diminution  in  the  output  per  worker,  and  tend  to  rise 
because  of  the  increased  demand  for  labor  as  compared 
with  the  supply.  The  net  result  of  these  counteracting 
tendencies  would  be  different  in  different  occupations." 
There  is  a  certain  amount  of  truth  in  this  argument,  and  I 
shall  recur  to  it  in  the  chapter  on  the  determinative  causes  of 
wages.  But  Mr.  Beardsley  assumes,  when  he  says  that  the 
labor-unions  wish  to  regulate  the  demand  in  order  to  secure 
the  benefits  of  a  monopoly,  that  the  number  of  laborers  will 
remain  invariable;  he  has  nothing  to  say  of  immigration, 
nothing  of  the  development  of  machinery  which,  in  certain 
cases,  replaces  the  skilled  workman  by  the  day  laborer. 

Many  of  the  American  politicians  have  come  out  in  favor 
of  the  eight-hour  system,  and  many  others  question  whether 
the  time  is  just  ripe,  but  dare  not  openly  attack  a  theory 
which  pleases  the  people.  Politics  makes  demands  of  its 
own. 

In  1886  the  Governor  of  New  York,  speaking  before  an 
agricultural  congress,  said  that  although  the  farm  laborer, 
living  close  to  his  work,  might  put  in  a  longer  day,  four 
hours  in  the  morning  and  four  in  the  afternoon,  seemed  as 
much  as  should  be  asked  of  the  city  laborer  who  often  works 
miles  away  from  his  home..  The  rest  of  his  time,  he,, 
thought,  should  be  employed  in  going  to  and  from  his 
work,  and  in  reading  or  enjoying  the  society  of  his  family 
and  neighbors. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  been  the  most 


128  The  American  Laborer 

prominent  labor  organization  in  the  fight  for  an  eight-hour 
day.  According  to  an  address  delivered  by  President 
Gompers  at  one  of  the  congresses  held  during  the  World's 
Fair,  the  theory  which  labor  organizations  ought  to  follow 
is  that  as  long  as  there  is  a  man  or  woman  unemployed 
who  needs  employment  and  is  able  and  willing  to  work,  the 
hours  of  labor  of  those  who  have  employment  are  too  long. 
The  limits  of  the  reduction  would  be  reached,  he  claimed, 
when  non-employment  was  abolished  and  the  mass  of  those 
who  want  work  and  can  not  find  it,  is  a  thing  of  the  past; 
even  then  the  greatest  possible  reduction  will  not  have  been 
attained.  I  agree  with  Mr.  Gompers ;  the  limit  may  be  con- 
tracted indefinitely — in  theory.36 

Hundreds  and  thousands  of  unions  are  associated  in  this 
movement.  The  development  of  machinery  having  brought 
about  over-production,  they  announce,  the  remedy  is  a  re- 
duction in  the  hours  of  labor,  and  they  assume  the  credit 
of  bringing  about  an  eight-hour  day  in  many  trades,  while 
under  the  ancient  regime  of  hand  labor  the  day  lasted  from 
ten  to  fifteen  hours.  "  All  the  labor  organizations  of  the 
State  of  New  York,"  said  the  Commissioner  in  1894,  "  are 
naturally  unanimous  in  their  efforts  to  reduce  the  hours  of 
labor  in  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  productivity  of 
machinery."  8T  We  have  seen  that  the  unanimity  was  not 
as  complete  as  he  supposed. 

Experiments  have  been  made  in  England  with  the  object 
of  determining  the  relative  productivity  of  labor  under  the 
eight-hour  and  the  ten-hour  systems,  but  they  were  not 
decisive.  Two  large  constructors  of  Salford,  Messrs. 
Mather  and  Pratt,  reduced  the  day  from  nine  to  eight  hours 
in  1893,  and  in  the  following  year  asserted  that  their  pro- 
duct had  been  greater  than  in  any  one  of  the  six  preceding 
years,  that  economies  had  been  effected  in  lighting,  the  wear 


88  See  Chicago  Daily  News,  September  31,  1893. 
87  Summary  of  the   Twelfth  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of 
Labor,  p.  15. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  129 

and  tear  of  machinery,  etc.,  that  the  piece-workers  whose 
earnings  were  sensibly  affected  at  first,  were  at  that  time 
making  practically  as  much  as  before.  But  the  director  of 
a  colliery,  Mr.  Bainbridge,  who  made  the  same  experiment, 
reported  a  diminution  both  of  wages  and  production.38 

The  expression  "  eight  hours  "  marks  a  tendency.  Some 
trades  have  secured  the  reduction,  but  what  the  others  really 
want  is  any  reduction  whatsoever,  so  long  as  they  are  free 
to  demand  a  second  when  they  have  secured  the  first.  In 
England,  as  in  America,  the  workingmen  are  unanimous 
in  condemning  work  overtime,  even  at  higher  rates  of 
pay,  and  in  a  majority  of  cases  they  also  condemn  piece- 
work.39 

Some  years  ago  the  president  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  addressed  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  Congressmen,  professors,  etc.,  asking 
whether  the  laborer  should  be  obliged  to  work  more  than 
eight  hours  a  day  and  what  would  be  the  effect  of  a  reduc- 
tion to  eight  hours.  The  President  excused  himself  on  ac- 
count of  his  official  position;  most  of  the  politicians  pro- 
nounced in  favor  of  eight  hours;  the  professors  were  more 

38  See  Les  Classes  Ouvrieres  en  Europe,  by  R.  Lavollee,  iii,  389. 

39  Overtime,  they  say,  takes  the  workman  from  his  family  and  be- 
gets an  abnormal  productivity  one  moment  and  idleness  the  next. 
Others  assert  that  the  moral  and  bodily  inconveniences  of  working 
overtime  have  been  exaggerated:  the  employer  has  no  object  in 
working  his  men  overtime,  as  their  efficiency  decreases  after  the 
regular  hours,  and  moreover,  the  entrepreneur  cannot  divide  the 
time  and  work  as  he  pleases;  this  depends  upon  the  orders.  And 
if  there  is  any  advantage  in  keeping  the  machines  at  work,  it  is 
more  than  overbalanced  by  the  higher  rate  of  wages  paid  for  extra 
work. 

In  England,  as  in  America,  many  trades-unions  are  opposed  to 
piece-work  because,  they  claim,  the  employers  arrange  the  rates 
in  accordance  with  the  earning  capacity  of  the  best  workmen,  be- 
cause it  leads  the  workmen  to  exhaust  themselves,  encourages  the 
manufacture  of  trashy  goods  and,  they  add,  the  more  one  produces 
the  less  work  there  is  for  the  rest.  Nevertheless,  the  labor  com- 
mission was  inclined  to  prefer  piece-work,  either  for  individual 
workmen  or  gangs  of  workmen,  where  it  was  feasible.  Fifth  Re- 
port of  tlte  Royal  Commission  on  Labour,  pp.  12,  15. 


130  The  American  Laborer 

divided  in  opinion,  probably  because  they  did  not  feel  so 
keenly  the  necessity  of  flattering  the  electorate.  One  pro- 
fessor favorable  to  the  eight-hour  day,  expressed  some  con- 
cern about  the  result,  his  anxiety  having  been  aroused  by 
conversations  with  builders  who  testified  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  eight-hour  day  had  not  increased  the  speed  of 
the  workmen. 

In  the  United  States  then,  as  in  western  and  central 
Europe,  there  is  a  systematic  agitation  for  the  eight-hour 
day.  Each  party  conducts  its  campaign  in  accordance  with 
the  peculiar  circumstances  and  the  national  character  of 
the  country  to  which  it  belongs,  but  all  of  them — unionists, 
co-operationists,  and  socialists  of  every  sect — have  the  same 
slogan:  less  work  and  more  pay.  It  is  plain  that  the  social- 
ists who  aim  to  impose  the  eight-hour  system  by  force  of 
law,  have  gained  upon  the  unionists  who,  for  a  long  time, 
particularly  in  England,  have  advocated  the  plan  of  secur- 
ing reduction  through  agreements  with  individual  em- 
ployers.40 

The  effective  hours  of  labor. — The  building  trades  of  the 
United  States,  in  virtue  of  their  effective  organization  and 
the  general  activity  of  construction,  are  in  a  better  position 
to  enforce  their  demands  than  most  of  the  other  trades. 
The  reduction  has  already  been  secured  in  many  depart- 
ments. Out  of  forty-two  building  trades  investigated  in 
New  York  in  1894,  seven  worked  on  the  nine-hour  (eight 
hours  on  Saturday)  and  34  on  the  eight-hour,  system,41  while 


40  See  the  reports  of  the  congress  of  textile-workers  which  met 
at  Ghent  in  1895.  The  French.  German  and  Belgian  delegates  de- 
clared in  favor  of  political  action;  the  English  delegates,  in  view 
of  the  depressed  state  of  their  industry,  thought  they  ought  to 
avoid  aggravation  and  stated  that  they  would  demand  an  eight- 
hour  law  when  the  Continental  workingmen  should  have  won  the 
privileges  which  they  already  possessed.  A  resolution  was  passed 
at  this  congress  calling  for  political  agitation  in  favor  of  the  eight- 
hour  system. 

a  From  a  manuscript  table  communicated  to  me  by  the  assistant 
chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  New  York.     [In  1898  the  labor 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  131 

the  wages,  which  are  among  the  highest  paid,  had  under- 
gone no  reduction.  But  the  cost  of  construction  has  in- 
creased about  40  per  cent,  in  the  last  fifteen  years. 

In  1894  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  began  an  inves- 
tigation in  which  inquiries  were  addressed  to  695  labor 
organizations.  Of  this  number  404,  a  good  majority,  re- 
ported that  the  hours  of  labor  had  decreased;  six  reported 
an  increase;  the  rest  replied  that  there  had  been  no  change, 
or  made  no  response  at  all.  In  a  total  of  155,483  workmen, 
48,411  (representing  169  unions  and  42  occupations)  worked 
eight  hours,  18,925  (142  unions)  worked  nine  hours,  32,534 
(180  unions)  worked  ten  hours,  and  10,922  worked  more 
than  ten  hours.  In  some  occupations  the  hours  are  very 
long;  in  breweries  the  work  often  lasts  fifteen  hours  and 
bakers  sometimes  work  as  high  as  twenty-two  hours. 

In  Ohio,  in  1892,  most  of  the  building  trades  worked  on 
the  ten-hour  system.  Out  of  15,141  workmen,  13,619  re- 
ported that  they  worked  ten  hours  except  on  Saturday. 

A  table  covering  48  cities  prepared  by  the  Journeymen 
Bakers'  and  Confectioners'  International  Union  of  America 
in  1890  gives  the  average  length  of  the  day's  labor  for  the 
first  four  days  of  the  week  at  ten  hours  thirty-six  minutes, 
and  that  of  Friday  and  Saturday  at  eleven  hours  forty-nine 
minutes.  The  maximum  for  the  first  five  days  (San  An- 
tonio, Texas)  was  thirteen  hours  thirty-seven  minutes,  and 
the  minimum  (Ouincy,  Illinois)  nine  hours  thirty-four 
minutes.  But  the  length  of  the  day  varies  greatly  from 
one  workman  to  another,  even  in  the  same  city.  Thus,  in 
1892,  bakers  worked  from  seven  to  eighteen  hours,  seven 
hours  being  the  exception,  while  the  average  day  was  from 
eleven  to  twelve.  On  Friday  the  day  was  prolonged,  to 
twenty-four  hours  in  some  instances,  in  order  to  provide 


organizations  in  the  building  trades  reported  as  follows  concerning 
the  working-day:  145  unions,  eight  hours;  106  unions,  more  than 
eight  and  less  than  ten  hours  (97,  nine  hours);  23  unions,  ten  hours 
or  more.] 


132  The  American  Laborer 

for  Saturday  and  Sunday.42  In  1893  the  general  average 
was  reduced  to  about  ten  hours  and  a  half  "; 

In  1886  at  the  instigation  of  the  Federation  of  Labor, 
the  furniture-makers  of  ten  cities  made  a  concerted  demand 
for  the  eight-hour  day  and  won  a  temporary  victory.  But 
the  employers  in  turn  organized  and  re-established  the  day 
of  ten  hours  except  in  New  York  and  San  Francisco,  where 
nine  hours  is  the  rule.44 

According  to  the  report  of  an  investigation  made  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  of  Michigan  in  1891,  which  cov- 
ered 13,436  female  employees,  the  number  of  hours  of  labor 
varied  from  three  to  eighteen  and  one-half.  The  majority, 
however,  7,161,  worked  ten  hours,  and  2,000  worked  only 
from  nine  hours  to  nine  hours  and  three-quarters.45 

Among  the  seamstresses  of  New  York  the  working-day 
begins  ordinarily  at  eight  in  the  morning  and  ends  at  six 
in  the  evening.  Allowing  forty-five  minutes  for  lunch,  it 
lasts  nine  hours  and  a  quarter. 

It  often  happens  that  the  length  of  the  day  varies  among 
the  different  employees  of  the  same  industry.  Thus  in  the 
furniture  manufacture  in  New  York,  the  carvers  and  mod- 


42  This  investigation  covered  586  first-class,  802  second-class,  476 
third-class,  43  fourth-class  workmen,  and  33  helpers.  Tenth  An- 
nual Report  .  .  .  New  York,  1893. 

43  The  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  some  of  the  occupations 
in  New  York  are  worth  noting:  In  1872  at  New  York  city  ma- 
sons worked  eight  hours;  this  rose  to  nine  hours,  then  to  ten.  and 
finally  in  1884,  after  a  strike,  nine  hours  was  adopted  by  three- 
fourths  of  the  employers.  In  1885.  by  the  decision  of  a  committee 
of  arbitration,  nine  hours  through  the  week  and  eight  on  Satur- 
day became  the  rule,  no  diminution  in  wages  having  occurred. 
In  1891,  eight  hours  was  adopted. 

Carpenters  in  New  York  city:  ten  hours,  1880-85;  1890,  eight 
hours. 

Painters  in  New  York  City:  1860-70.  ten  hours;  1871.  eight  hours; 
1872-73,  ten  hours;  1885,  nine  to  ten;  1886-90,  nine  hours. 

Plasterers  in  Brooklyn:  1879-83,  ten  hours;  1884-89,  nine  hours; 
1890.  eight  hours. 

**  Rapports  de  la  delegation  ouzriere  a  V Exposition  dc  Chicago,  p.  710. 

"Ninth  Annual  Report,  1892. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  133 

ellers  work  eight  hours,  while  the  cabinet-makers,  joiners, 
turners,  and  varnishers,  work  nine  hours. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Painters  and  Decorators  have 
secured  a  reduction  of  hours  in  many  places.  At  the  St. 
Louis  convention  in  1892  the  secretary  of  the  organization 
stated  that  during  a  period  of  two  years  246  unions  had 
obtained  some  reduction,  that  only  18  had  failed  in  their 
attempts,  and  that  the  number  of  unions  which  worked  not 
more  than  54  hours  a  week  had  been  increased  by  59.*1 

In  1893,  after  a  month's  discussion,  the  cabinet-makers  of 
Boston  consented  to  accept  without  reduction  of  salary,  the 
nine-hour  in  place  of  the  ten-hour  day.  The  carriage- 
makers,  copper-smiths,  tin-smiths,  shipwrights  and  farriers 
also  won  the  same  concession. 

On  Saturday  a  part  of  the  stores  and  shops  close  early, 


46  In  England  the  Royal  Commission  on  Labour  reported  that 
either  as  a  result  of  restrictive  laws  upon  the  labor  of  women  and 
children  or  because  of  a  change  of  custom,  there  had  been  a  con- 
siderable diminution  in  the  hours  of  labor  during  the  preceding 
fifteen  years.  The  trades-unions  have  contributed  largely  to  modify 
the  custom  and  to  secure  pay  for  overtime,  so  that  at  present  fifty- 
four  hours  a  week  is  the  general  rule  for  factory  employments.  In 
the  cotton  manufacture  it  has  been  shown  that,  owing  to  the  im- 
provement of  machinery  no  diminution  of  production  has  resulted 
from  the  reduction  of  hours.  Long  hours  are  not  unknown;  in 
some  localities  the  puddlers  and  molders  prefer  two  shifts  of  twelve 
hours  to  three  shifts  of  eight  hours,  because  of  the  larger  pay,  and 
the  bakers  and  confectioners,  among  whom  competition  is  very 
intense,  work  long  hours  without  the  inducement  of  high  wages. 
But  it  may  be  stated  as  a  general  rule  that  the  day  is  not  much  over 
nine  hours.  Long  hours,  the  workingmen  say,  exhaust  the  indi- 
vidual physically  and  morally,  and  enfeeble  the  race;  by  permitting 
an  excessive  production  at  one  time,  they  bring  about  idleness  at 
another,  and  thus  deprive  the  laborer  of  the  means  of  existence. 
To  which  the  response  is  made  that  upon  investigation  the  extra 
work  is  not  as  much  as  some  would  like  to  make  it  appear,  that 
the  employers  have  no  interest  in  making  the  hours  too  long,  that 
shut-downs  are  caused  by  other  forces,  that  individual  employees, 
where  they  are  not  constrained  by  unions,  like  to  work  overtime 
because  of  the  extra  pay,  and  that  it  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  the 
amount  of  work  can  be  determined  with  precision  by  employers  or 
that  it  can  be  distributed  according  to  their  wishes.  Fifth  and 
Final  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Labour,  Nos.  12  to  14. 


134  The  American  Laborer 

as  they  do  in  England,  and  in  certain  occupations  the  work- 
men also  stop  at  an  earlier  hour.  The  custom  is  by  no 
means  universal,47  but  almost  everywhere  the  labor-unions 
are  working  to  secure  this  privilege. 

To  the  question — what  is  the  average  length  of  the  work- 
ing-day in  the  United  States? — it  is  impossible  to  give  a 
precise  answer  because  in  this,  as  in  other  economic  mea- 
surements, there  is  no  intelligible  mean;  what  we  have  is  a 
number  of  heterogeneous  quantities  massing  themselves 
more  or  less  closely  about  a  common  point.  At  present 
this  point,  representing  the  length  of  the  day's  labor,  seems 
to  be  somewhere  between  nine  and  one-half  and  ten  hours, 
and  probably  nearer  ten  than  nine  and  a  half.  The  Aldrich 
report  give  ten  hours  as  the  general  average.48 

Legislation. — General  democratic  influences  have  led 
American  legislatures  to  adopt,  more  or  less  decisively,  the 
policy  of  legislative  restriction.  Up  to  1880,  omitting  the 
federal  law  relative  to  public  works,  Massachusetts  was  the 
only  state  which  possessed  a  law  limiting  the  hours  of  labor 
of  women  and  children.  To-day  at  least  twenty  states 
have  limited  the  hours  of  labor  of  children  under  16  or  18 
years,  and  fifteen  or  more  have  followed  the  example  of 
Massachusetts  in  regulating  the  labor  of  adult  women.  So 
far  as  it  relates  to  minors,  this  legislation  seems  just;  with 
respect  to  adults,  it  appears  to  me  unjust. 

Several  states  have  fixed  the  hours  of  labor  of  workmen 
employed  in  public  works.  The  Revised  Statutes  of  the 
United  States,  title  43,  contains  the  following  section: 
"  Eight  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work  for  all  laborers, 
workmen,  and  mechanics  who  may  be  employed  by  or  on 


47  In  1890  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  New  York  made  an  investi- 
gation concerning  the  half-holiday  on  Saturday  afternoons:  96 
unions  answered  that  they  had  the  holiday;  404  that  they  did  not 
have  it;  94  made  no  response  to  the  question.  Eighth  Annual  Re- 
port, p.  464  et  seq. 

48  The  Report  on  ll'holcsalc  Prices  and  Wages,  vol.  i.  p.  178,  gives 
the  general  average  working  day  at  11.4  hours  in  1840  and  10 
hours  in  1890. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  135 

behalf  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States."  This  is 
the  law  which  was  signed  by  President  Johnson  in  i868.4" 
A  more  recent  law,  passed  in  1888,  completes  this  legislation 
by  bringing  letter-carriers  under  the  eight-hour  system."0 
However,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  the  Supreme  Court  has 
decided  that  this  law  does  not  deprive  undertakers  of  pub- 
lic works  of  the  right  of  making  agreements  with  their 
employees  to  work  more  than  eight  hours.01  The  People's 
party  is  evidently  not  of  this  opinion,  as  is  shown  by  the 
resolution  adopted  at  the  Omaha  convention  in  i892.5'a 

In  1889  Massachusetts  limited  to  nine  hours  a  day  the 
labor  of  workmen  employed  in  public  works,  and  Texas 
has  a  similar  law;  New  York  in  1870,  Idaho  in  1890,  Cali- 
fornia in  1885,  Wyoming  in  1886,  Kansas  in  1890,  Colorado 
in  1894,  Utah  in  1894,  and  other  states  have  fixed  the  limit 
at  eight  hours.  Most  of  these  laws  are  very  recent  and 
apparently  do  not  overstep  the  bounds  of  justice  since  the 
state,  just  as  any  individual,  may  fix  the  conditions  on 
which  its  work  shall  be  done.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, they  constitute  an  imprudent  obligation  on  the  part 
of  the  state:  if  they  are  not  executed,  they  furnish  the  spec- 
tacle, always  demoralizing,  of  violated  law;  if  they  are  exe- 
cuted, they  are  taken  into  account  by  contractors,  increase 
the  cost  of  public  work,  and  give  leisure  to  a  limited  num- 
ber of  workmen  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  body  of  tax- 
payers. 

The  state  is  still  within  its  rights  when  it  merely  defines 
the  length  of  the  working  day  without  making  this  length 


40  The  eight-hour  law  was  introduced  in  1866  in  a  bill  presented 
by  Representative  Rogers. 

50  England  took  similar  measures  in  1892  and  1893  when  the  gov- 
ernment decided  that  the  men  employed  by  the  ministers  of  war 
and  marine  should  work  not  more  than  eight  hours. 

51  See  Stimson's  Handbook,  p.  53. 

51a  "  Resolved,  That  we  cordially  sympathize  with  the  efforts  of  or- 
ganized workmen  to  shorten  the  hours  of  labor  and  demand  a 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  existing  eight-hour  law  on  government 
work  and  ask  that  a  penalty  clause  be  added  to  the  said  law." 


136  The  American  Laborer 

compulsory  in  private  contracts.  Thus  in  1881  Florida 
enacted  that  ten  hours  of  labor  should  be  "  considered  and 
regarded  as  a  legal  day's  work,  and  held  to  be  such  by  the 
courts  of  this  State  "  and  that  unless  a  contract  to  the  con- 
trary was  signed  by  the  employer  and  employee  in  the  pres- 
ence of  at  least  one  witness,  the  employee  should  "  be  en- 
titled to  extra  pay  for  all  work  performed  in  excess  of  ten 
hours'  labor  daily,  if  so  required  by  his  employer."  Ex- 
perience will  probably  show  that  the  signature,  the  wit- 
nesses, and  the  extra  pay  for  "  all "  work  in  excess  of  ten 
hours,  are  superfluous.52  New  Hampshire  since  1878, 
Michigan  since  1885,  Maine  since  1888,  and  Nebraska  since 
1895,  have  had  the  ten-hour  day.  Seven  other  states  have 
fixed  the  legal  day's  labor  at  eight  hours.  These  laws  do 
not  apply  as  a  general  rule  to  service  rendered  by  the  week 
or  month  and  they  allow  longer  hours  to  be  stipulated  in 
special  contracts.53 

The  constitutionality  of  some  of  these  laws  is  very  doubt- 
ful. In  Ohio,  New  York  and  New  Jersey,54  railway  em- 
ployees are  limited  to  ten  hours  M  and  they  must  be  paid 
extra  for  overtime.  In  several  states — California,  Louisi- 
ana, Pennsylvania,  for  instance — the  conductors  of  tram- 
ways and  omnibuses  are  limited  to  twelve  hours.  In  order 
to  allow  workmen  time  to  vote  New  Jersey  has  passed  an 
eight-hour  law  applicable  only  to  election  days.68 

52  The  clause  requiring  a  witness  was  omitted  from  the  Revised 
Statutes  of  1892.     [Tr.] 

53  In  Indiana  longer  hours  without  extra  pay  is  punishable  as  a 
misdemeanor. 

"  The  ten-hour  law,  applying  to  steam-railroads  now  exists  in 
Ohio,  New  York,  Michigan  and  Minnesota,  and  applying  to  street- 
railways,  in  New  York,  Massachusetts  and  Washington.  Industrial 
Commission  ....  Labor  Legislation,  p.  27.     [Tr.] 

55  In  England  a  law  of  July,  1893.  upon  the  hours  of  labor  of 
employees  of  railways  gives  to  the  Board  of  Trade  the  authority 
to  compel  a  company  to  reduce  the  hours  of  labor  of  its  personnel. 

56  In  1894  the  machinists  of  the  State  of  New  York  complained 
that  the  law  which  gave  them  two  hours  in  which  to  vote  had  been 
injurious  to  them  because  the  employers  closed  the  shops  during 
the  whole  day  and  thus  made  them  lose  their  wages.  Summary  of 
the  Twelfth  Report,  p.  21. 


Labor  Laivs  and  Trade  Regulations  137 

Finally,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  legislatures  ex- 
ceeded the  bounds  of  their  authority  and  infringed  the  lib- 
erty of  the  individual  when  ttfey  placed  an  obligatory  limit 
upon  the  hours  of  labor  of  adults,  imposed  penalties  upon 
infractions  of  the  law,  and  made  no  provision  for  exceptions 
by  private  contract.  This  is  what  was  done  by  Massachu- 
setts in  1874  when  the  labor  of  adult  women  was  limited  to 
sixty  hours  a  week,  and  in  1892,  when  this  limit  was  again 
reduced  to  forty-eight.  It  is  what  at  least  ten  other  states 
have  done  in  imitation  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  the  course 
pursued  by  Wyoming  and  New  Mexico  in  regard  to  mine 
laborers,"  and  by  Illinois  in  1893,  when  that  state  prohibited 
clothing  manufacturers  from  working  female  employees 
more  than  eight  hours  a  day  or  forty-eight  hours  a  week, 
although  a  recent  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois 
has  established  the  unconstitutionality  of  this  restriction. 
The  legislature  of  Georgia  did  the  same  when  they  restrict- 
ed operatives  in  the  cotton  and  woolen  mills  to  sixty-six 
hours  a  week,  declared  all  contracts  in  contravention  of  this 
law  null  and  void  and  authorized  "  any  person  "  to  institute 
suit  against  any  cotton  or  woolen  manufacturing  establish- 
ment which  made  such  a  contract.  It  is  what  was  done  by 
Maryland  when  she  prohibited  companies  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  or  woolen  goods  from  working  chil- 
dren or  female  employees  more  than  10  hours  a  day,  either 
with  or  without  contract. 

Nebraska  went  even  further  in  1891,  under  the  influence 
of  the  Populists,  and  enacted  that  eight  hours  of  labor 
should  "  constitute  a  legal  day's  work  for  all  classes  of  me- 
chanics, servants,  and  laborers  throughout  the  state  of 
Nebraska,  excepting  those  engaged  in  farm  and  domestic 
labor."     Public  officials  who  evaded  this  law  were  to  be 


BT  The  constitutionality  of  the  Utah  law  prohibiting  the  employ- 
ment of  any  person  in  a  smelter  or  an  underground  mine  for  more 
than  eight  hours  a  day,  has  been  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.     18  Sup.  Ct.  Rep.,  p.  383.     [Tr.] 


*o 


138  The  American  Laborer 

deemed  guilty  of  malfeasance  in  office,  double  compensation 
was  to  be  given  for  all  work  over  the  specified  time,  and  a 
fine  was  to  be  inflicted  for  infractions  of  the  last-quoted  sec- 
tion. Although  the  prohibition  was  by  no  means  absolute, 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Nebraska  declared  the  law  unconsti- 
tional  in  1894. 

The  constitutionality  of  tliis  legislation. — The  constitution- 
ality of  such  laws,  when  they  apply  to  persons  of  legal  age, 
is  still  an  open  question  in  the  United  States.  In  order  to 
test  their  constitutionality  the  Federation  of  Labor  has  even 
supplied  workingmen  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  with  means 
to  bring  action  based  upon  them.  Such  cases  have, 
however,  not  been  numerous.  In  1876  a  Massachusetts 
judge  condemned  a  manufacturer  for  violating  the  ten-hour 
law,  but  much  more  recently  the  Supreme  Court  of  Califor- 
nia annulled  an  ordinance  of  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  which 
prohibited  the  employment  for  more  than  eight  hours  of 
any  person  engaged  on  work  done  by  contract  with  the  city. 
In  1894  an  inspector  of  Cook  Co.,  111.,  arraigned  a  manu- 
facturer before  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  violation  of  the  law 
of  June  17,  1893,  which  provided  that  "  no  female  shall  be 
employed  in  any  factory  or  workshop  more  than  eight 
hours  in  any  one  day  or  forty-eight  hours  in  any  one  week." 
The  justice  imposed  a  fine  and  the  judgment  was  confirmed 
by  the  criminal  court  of  the  county.  But  on  appeal,  the 
Supreme  Court  reversed  the  decision  in  March.  1895,  and 
declared  the  above  section  unconstitutional.  "  The  manner 
in  which  this  section  discriminates  against  one  class  of 
employers  and  employees,  in  favor  of  all  others,"  said  the 
court,  "  renders  it  invalid."  The  court  then  quoted  the  con- 
stitution of  Illinois  which  provides,  in  section  2  of  the  second 
article,  that  "  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or 
property  without  due  process  of  law,"  and  decided  not  only 
that  "  labor  is  property,"  but  that  "  '  liberty '  includes  the 
right  to  make  contracts  as  well  with  reference  to  the 
amount  and  duration  of  labor  to  be  performed  as  concern- 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  139 

ing  any  other  lawful  matter.  Hence,  the  right  to  make 
contracts  is  an  inalienable  one,  and  any  attempt  to  un- 
reasonably abridge  it  is  opposed  to  the  constitution."  The 
court  moreover  denied  the  argument  that  the  law  was  a 
valid  exercise  of  the  police  power,  designed  to  protect  wo- 
men on  account  of  their  sex  and  physique,  and  declared  that 
"  inasmuch  as  sex  is  no  bar  under  the  constitution  and  law 
to  the  endowment  of  women  with  the  fundamental  and  in- 
alienable rights  of  liberty  and  property,  which  includes  the 
right  to  make  her  own  contracts,  the  mere  fact  of  sex  will 
not  justify  the  legislature  in  putting  forth  the  police  power 
of  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  limiting  her  exercise  of 
those  rights,  unless  the  courts  are  able  to  see  that  there  is 
some  fair,  just,  and  reasonable  connection  between  such 
limitation  and  the  public  health,  safety,  or  welfare  proposed 
to  be  secured  by  it.B?a 

The  opinion  of  the  manufacturer. — Although  its  constitu- 
tionality is  doubtful,  the  economic  desirability  of  legal 
regulation  is  at  least  certain?  Not  at  all,  responds  the 
manufacturer;  it  is  inaccurate  to  say  that  workingmen  are 
exhausted  by  their  work,  because  in  general  the  improve- 
ment of  machinery  has  removed  the  necessity  of  severe 
muscular  strain  and  has  brought  about  a  more  wholesome 
regime  in  the  workshops.  Ten  hours'  work  is  not  exces- 
sive, it  is  beneficial  to  both  the  male  and  female  laborer, 
and  when  their  labor  is  reduced  by  law  from  ten  hours  to 
eight,  their  pay  generally  declines  in  about  the  same  pro- 
portion. Statistics  are  paraded  before  the  people  to  show 
that  wages  have  not  fallen  in  the  states  in  which  the  work- 
ing day  has  been  reduced,  but  if  there  has  been  no  reduc- 
tion, these  wages  would  have  been  increased,  because  more 
productive  machinery  has  been  provided  for  the  work.  Mr. 
North,  the  Secretary  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool 
Manufacturers,  thinks  that  a  comparison  of  the  censuses 
of   1880  and   1890  justifies  the  conclusion  that  wages  de- 


7a  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  January,  1896,  pp.  203-205. 


140  The  American  Laborer 

clined  in  the  cotton  and  woolen  industries  in  that  interval/'8 
but  his  argument  is  not  convincing.'9  As  Mr.  North  says, 
no  one  denies  that  the  operative  who  works  fifteen  hours 
wears  himself  out  and  in  the  end  produces  less  than  the 
operative  who  works  ten  hours  a  day.  There  is  a  reason- 
able limit,  dependent  upon  the  time,  the  place  and  the  in- 
dustry, but  it  is  for  private  individuals,  not  the  legislature, 
to  ascertain  this  limit  and  abide  by  it  or  not,  as  they  see  fit 
The  status  of  the  question. — The  theoretical  advocates  of 
legal  restriction  can  hardly  be  charged  with  disregarding 
its  future  consequences,  but  they  survey  the  future  more 
as  philanthropists  than  as  practical  men.  Wages,  they  as- 
sert, will  not  suffer:  "The  only  reduction  of  hours  which 
merits  a  serious  consideration,"  says  Mr.  Gilman,  "  is  that 
which  involves  no  reduction  of  wages." e  He  claims,  as 
Mr.  Gunton  does  in  Wealth  and  Progress,  that  production 
will  not  be  impaired,  and  affirms  that  industry  is  ripe  for 
nine  hours — Mr.  Gunton  says  eight — because  experience 
proves  that  as  much  can  be  done  in  nine  hours  as  in  ten, 
because  the  workman  does  not  have  enough  time  with  his 
family,  and  the  leisure  time  will  be  employed  in  the  profit- 

58  Bulletin  of  the  National  Association  of  IVool  Manufacturers,  p.  267. 

°*  While  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  Massachusetts,  Carroll  D. 
Wright,  made  an  investigation  of  this  subject  in  which  he  con- 
cluded that  under  the  ten-hour  system,  introduced  into  Massachu- 
setts for  women  by  the  law  of  1874,  Massachusetts  produced  per 
spindle,  per  loom,  or  per  operative,  as  much  as,  or  even  more  than, 
any  state  in  which  an  eleven-hour  day  was  general,  and  moreover, 
that  wages  were  at  least  as  high  in  Massachusetts  as  in  any  such 
state.  He  says,  in  effect,  that  average  weekly  wages  in  Maine 
were  $7.04  for  66J/&  hours  of  labor,  while  in  Massachusetts  they 
were  $8.32  for  60  hours.  But  the  figures  themselves  are  not  very 
convincing  as  the  conditions  of  labor  and  living  are  different  in  the 
two  states.     See  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  for  1885 

80  Nicholas  Paine  Gilman,  Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  265. 
In  an  investigation  of  100  establishments  made  by  the  labor  bureau 
of  Connecticut,  57  reported  that  there  had  been  no  reduction  of 
wages:  31  reported  a  proportional  diminution  of  wages:  and  13 
answered  that  there  had  been  a  reduction,  but  not  a  proportional 
one.     See  the  Tenth  Annual  Report. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  111 

able  occupations  of  reading,  social  relaxations,  etc.  The 
Federation  of  Labor  demands  eight  hours  because  leisure 
is  good  for  man.  But  where  shall  we  stop,  and  how  shall 
we  keep  wages  at  the  present  rate?  Some  theorists  have 
vainly  protested  that  with  our  perfected  machinery,  two 
hours  labor  a  day  on  the  part  of  everyone  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  maintain  the  present  production.  An  actual  demon- 
stration would  be  necessary  to  confirm  the  truth  of  this 
assertion,  and  then,  if  by  some  miracle  its  truth  were  con- 
firmed, it  would  be  necessary  to  decree  that  mankind  should 
not  increase  its  consumption. 

Because  the  conditions  of  employment  are  diverse  and 
variable  there  can  be  no  advantageous  regulation  by  law  of 
adult  labor;  because  the  liberty  of  the  individual  is  involved, 
there  should  be  none.61  Political  economy — a  science  of 
observation  leading  in  practical  affairs  to  the  principle  of 
the  freedom  of  labor — should  not  take  sides  in  this  contro- 
versy: it  is  not  charged  with  the  duty  of  fixing  the  hours 
that  shall  be  spent  in  the  workshop,  which  are  determined 
by  the  requirements  of  particular  industries,  times  and 
places.  The  science  does  show  that  the  ordinary  duration 
of  the  working-day  is  not  arbitrary,  that  usage  has  fixed  it 
in  accordance  with  the  surrounding  social  and  economic 
conditions,  and  that  it  undergoes  normal  and  permanent 
changes  only  after  corresponding  changes  in  these  condi- 
tions. If  political  economy  recognizes  as  legitimate  the 
regulation  of  the  labor  of  minors  employed  in  manufac- 
tures, it  also  declares  that  adult  persons  should  be  left  free 
to  dispose  of  their  own  labor  according  to  their  personal 
interests  and  that  the  public  authority  should  intervene 
only  to  enforce  the  execution  of  private  contracts.  The 
question  of  the  hours  of  labor  is  one  of  expediency 62  not 


61  General  Walker  has  examined  the  question  in  its  different  as- 
pects in  an  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  June,  1890. 

62  Prof.  Marshall  questions  whether  two  shifts  of  eight  hours 
each,  thus  utilizing  the  machinery  sixteen  hours  out  of  twenty-four, 
would   not   effect  an   economy.     The  question   can   be   decided   by 

11 


142  The  American  Laborer 

of  ethics,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  theory,  political 
economy  has  no  business  with  it,  although  as  a  science  of 
observation  it  should  follow  closely  the  movement  of  facts 
and  ideas  and  put  in  evidence  the  results,  favorable  and  un- 
favorable, of  its  studies  of  fact.  And  it  is  by  this  study  of 
existing  facts  that  the  science  reveals  a  certain  general  and 
limited  connection  between  industrial  development  and  the 
reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor. 

Comparison  with  France  and  England. — The  question  un- 
der consideration,  as  I  have  said,  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
United  States.  It  is  actively  discussed  in  European  labor 
congresses  as  well  as  in  America,  and  in  both  places  the 
same  arguments  are  heard  and  the  same  party  division  ex- 
ists; one  wing  of  the  party  aims  to  secure  reduction  through 
the  action  of  labor  organizations  upon  individual  employ- 
ers, the  other  wing  advocates  the  passage  of  laws  making 
the  eight-hour  system  compulsory.  At  the  international 
labor  congress  held  in  Paris  in  1886,  the  English  delegates 
refused  to  endorse  the  resolution  calling  for  an  eight-hour 
day,  not  wishing  to  impose,  and  particularly  not  by  law,  an 
absolute  rule  in  this  matter.  Party  discipline  alone  led  the 
Australian  delegates,  who  at  that  time  were  in  favor  of  a 
six-hour  day,  to  endorse  the  resolution.  At  the  London 
congress  of  1888,  in  which  the  old  unionists  found  them- 
selves in  a  minority,  the  system  was  endorsed,  as  it  was  in 
Paris  in  1889  when  the  plan  of  making  a  demonstration  on 
the  first  of  May,  which  originated  in  St.  Louis  in  1888,  was 
accepted. 

In  England  three  parties  can  now  be  distinguished:  a 
radical  party  that  demands  a  compulsory  eight-hour  law 
fcr  all  industries;  a  conservative  party  that  desires  to  se- 
cure reduction  through  the  medium  of  free  contracts  be- 
tween labor  unions  and  employers;  a  party  that  demands 
"trade  option"  or  "local  option,"  i.  e.,  the  right  to  pass 


actual  trial,  but  an  experiment  would  be  necessary  for  each  line  of 
industry. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations        ..        143 

obligatory  laws  for  specific  industries  or  in  limited  dis- 
tricts. The  leaders  are  not  wholly  in  accord,  and  the  ma- 
jority has  vacillated  in  the  labor  congresses.  Thus,  in 
Belfast  in  1893,  a  general  eight-hour  law,  with  some  ex- 
ceptions, was  endorsed,63  but  when  a  bill  limiting  work  in 
coal-mines  to  eight  hours  a  day  was  presented  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  the  members  representing  the  labor  party 
voted  against  it;  at  Cardiff  in  1895  the  demand  for  an  eight- 
hour  day  had  grown,  and  although  the  miners  held  aloof, 
the  majority  voted  for  the  presentation  of  a  new  bill  lim- 
iting labor  in  all  industries  and  trades  of  the  United  King- 
dom, mines  excepted,  to  eight  hours  per  day. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  hours  of  labor  have  been  very 
much  reduced  in  England  during  the  last  fifty  years,  the 
improvement  having  been  secured  at  first  through  laws 
passed  to  protect  women  and  minors  and  afterwards 
through  the  natural  channels  of  contract  and  agreement. 
So  thoroughly  has  the  change  been  accomplished  that  for  a 
good  many  years  skilled  workmen  have  not  worked  more 
than  nine  hours  a  day  and  fifty-four  hours  a  week.  These 
reductions  have  been  secured  in  part  through  strikes  and 
agreements  made  by  the  trades-unions;  in  part  they  are 
due  to  other  causes.  In  some  cases  they  have  involved  a 
reduction  of  wages,  but  more  often  this  has  been  prevented 
by  the  improvement  of  machinery.  Bakers,  day  laborers 
and  some  other  classes  have  not  benefited  by  the  reduc- 
tion which  has  taken  place  in  most  of  the  trades. 

In  France  the  hours  of  labor  have  diminished  a  great 
deal  since  Villerme  estimated  the  average  working-day  in 
the  textile  industries  at  from  fifteen  to  fifteen  and  one-half 
hours,  of  which  thirteen  hours  were  actually  consumed  in 
effective  labor.  The  decree  of  March  2,  1848,  limited  the 
hours  of  labor  to  ten  in  Paris  and  eleven  in  the  provinces; 
the  law  of  September  9,  1848,  fixed  the  limit  at  twelve 
hours;  the  decree  of  May  17,  185 1,  which  suspended  the 


63  Lavollee,  Les  Classes  Ouvricrcs  en  Europe,  iri,  p.  315. 


144       „  The  American  Laborer 

law  has  been  modified  by  the  decree  of  April  3,  1889,  by 
which  it  has  been  revived.  Recently,  an  investigation  con- 
ducted by  the  Office  du  travail  brought  out  the  fact  that  the 
average  day  in  the  Department  of  the  Seine  was  ten  hours 
and  a  half.  In  1891,  out  of  100  occupations,  86  had  a  day 
of  from  nine  to  eleven  hours;  8  worked  more  than  12  hours; 
and  six  less  than  seven  hours  a  day.64 

Australia,  with  its  deep-rooted  democratic  tendencies,  is 
unquestionably  the  first  country  in  which  the  eight-hour 
system  obtained  a  firm  foothold.  In  1856  the  system  was 
introduced  by  the  "  United  Trades  "  of  the  colony  of  Vic- 
toria, and  it  has  now  ceased  to  be  discussed  and  has  be- 
come a  general  custom  throughout  the  colonies. 

In  the  investigation  of  the  conditions  of  labor  in  foreign 
countries  carried  on  a  few  years  ago  under  the  direction 
of  the  Ministre  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  it  was  shown  that 
the  average  working-day  was  less  than  ten  hours  in  Eng- 
land, from  ten  to  twelve  hours  in  Germany,  about  eleven 
hours  net  in  Austria,  from  eight  to  thirteen  and  one-half 
hours  in  Hungary,  from  ten  to  twelve  hours  in  Spain,  and 
in  Russia  from  eight  (in  iron-  and  steel-works)  to  fourteen 
and  sixteen  hours.  I  cite  these  few  figures,  without  going 
into  the  minutiae  of  a  comparative  study,  in  order  to  show: 
first,  that  there  does  exist  a  connection  between  the  indus- 
trial wealth  and  the  hours  of  labor  of  a  country,  because 
in  general,  productivity  is  low  where  the  industrial  wealth 
is  undeveloped;  second,  that  democracy  exercises  an  in- 
fluence in  this  matter;  third,  that  the  United  States,  with 
an  average  working-day  which  seems  to  be  about  ten  hours 
or  a  little  less,  holds  one  of  the  highest  ranks,  in  this  re- 
gard, after  England. 

94  Salaires  et  Duree  du  Travail  dans  Y Industrie  Francaisc.  vols,  i,  ii. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  145 

III. 

CHILD-LABOR 

Number  of  children  employed  in  factories. — The  census  of 
1870,  which  was  the  first  to  give  any  information  on  this 
subject,  estimated  the  ratio  of  children  between  10  and  15 
years  of  age  to  the  total  number  of  employees  at  1:17;  the 
census  of  1880  at  1:  16;  the  census  of  1890  (from  10  to  14 
years)  at  1:38.  In  spite  of  the  change  in  the  age  group  it 
is  evident  that  there  has  been  a  diminution.  The  propor- 
tion is  highest  in  agriculture,  in  which  some  occupation  is 
found  for  every  member  of  the  family. 

In  manufactures  there  was  one  child  from  10  to  15  years 
of  age  in  every  35  employees,  in  1870;  one  between  the 
same  ages  in  every  29  employees  in  1880;  and  one  child 
from  10  to  14  years  of  age  in  every  57  employees  in  1890. 
The  total  of  youths  below  16  and  of  girls  below  15  years 
of  age,  employed  in  gainful  occupations,  increased  from 
115,000  to  180,000  between  1870  and  1880,  or  about  55.6 
per  cent.,  while  the  total  number  of  employees  increased 
only  42  per  cent.  In  five  states — Illinois,  Ohio,  Iowa, 
[Maine  and  Maryland,  the  increase  was  more  than  100  per 
cent,  in  the  decade  1870-1880,  while  in  those  states  in  which 
the  law  obstructed  their  employment,  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  for  example,  the  increase  was  very  much 
smaller  (from  20  to  50  per  cent.).  From  1880  to  1890, 
however,  the  number  fell  from  180,000  to  120,000.  This 
diminution  occurred  almost  wholly  in  the  Eastern  and  Cen- 
tral states,  in  which  restrictive  laws  were  applied  more 
vigorously  than  in  the  preceding  decade;  in  many  other 
states  there  was  an  increase.65 

In  certain  industries  the  relative  amount  of  child-labor  is 
a  good  deal  above  the  average.     In  cotton-spinning  mills 


65  From  1870  to  1890  there  was  an  absolute  decrease  of  14,585  in 
New  England  and  the  Central  states:  in  the  ether  states  there  was 
an  increase  of  20,842. 


1-16  The  American  Laborer 

one  out  of  every  six  employees  is  a  child,  and  the  propor- 
tions are  nearly  as  high  in  the  woolen,  card-board,  and  boot 
and  shoe  industries.  In  the  tobacco  manufacture  one  child 
is  found  to  every  12  employees,  and  in  the  mines,  one  to 
every  20. 

In  an  investigation  made  by  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Labor  a  few  years  ago,  it  was  found  that  in  the 
cotton  industry,  2,582  out  of  6,804  children  belonging  to  the 
2,132  families  investigated,  worked;  1,291  went  to  school; 
2,364  remained  at  home;  and  567  were  not  accounted  for. 
1,081  families,  i.  e.  a  little  less  than  one-half,  put  their  chil- 
dren to  work,  and  on  the  average  had  2.4  children  so 
engaged.  This  was  somewhat  higher  than  the  figures  for 
the  cotton  industry  of  Europe,  as  ascertained  in  the  same 
investigation.66 

In  the  woolen  industry,  the  percentage  was  a  little  less, 
2  children  per  family.67  In  the  glass  manufacture,  in  which 
wages  are  high  and  there  is  but  little  place  for  children,  the 
proportion  was  only  1.5;  in  the  steel  industry  it  was  1.9; 
in  coal-mines  and  blast-furnaces,  1.6;  in  the  coke  manufac- 
ture, i.4.GS 

Objections  against  child-labor  in  manufacturing  industries. 
— Omitting  household  industries,  which  will  be  treated  in 
connection  with  the  sweating  system,  it  is  in  the  textile  in- 
dustries that  child-labor  is  most  extensively  employed. 
For  many  years  American  economists,  socialists,  hygien- 
ists  and  philanthropists  have  given  themselves  much  con- 
cern about  the  number  of  children  employed  in  manufac- 
tures. For  this  condition,  which  they  claim  constitutes  a 
social  peril,  machinery  is  partly  responsible.  The  manu- 
facturers are  also  responsible  in  part.     Wishing  to  lower 

08  In  England  2.1;  in  France  1.8;  in  Germany  2;  in  Switzerland 
1.9;  general  average  2.  In  the  United  States  the  proportion  for 
American  families  was  as  large  as  that  for  other  nationalities.  Sev- 
enth Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  1706. 

87  Ibid.,  p.  1716.     For  American  families,  1.7. 

68  See  also  the  Sixth  Annual  Report,  pp.  1286,  1293,  1300,  1307. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  147 

the  expenses  of  production,  they  have  substituted  children 
for  adults  wherever  it  was  possible.  A  few  having  intro- 
duced the  practice,  all  the  rest  were  forced  to  follow  by  the 
pressure  of  competition.  Philanthropists  have  repeatedly 
warned  parents,  who  among  the  lower  classes  are  opposed 
to  legal  restrictions,  that  the  net  income  of  the  family  is  not 
increased  by  putting  children  to  work.  The  children,  they 
say,  grow  up  in  ignorance  with  stunted  faculties  and  blunt- 
ed morals;  the  race  retrogrades,  becomes  habituated  to 
"  starvation  wages,"  and  in  many  instances  the  child  does 
a  man's  work  in  some  factory,  while  the  father  idles  in  the 
streets,  unable  to  obtain  work.69 

"  My  attention  has  frequently  been  called,"  wrote  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  of  Ohio  in  1887,  "  to  the  alarming 
growth  of  women  and  child-labor  in  the  gainful  occupa- 
tions. .  .  .  Children  are  crowded  into  workshops  at  twelve 
years,  and  at  fifteen  they  are  able  to  do  a  man's  work,  but 
their  wages  are  fixed  at  thirty,  forty  and  fifty  cents  a  day. 
They  are  given  work  at  meagre  wages  until  they  reach  the 
years  of  manhood,  when  they  are  thrown  out  of  employment 
to  make  room  for  some  other  boys  who  will  work  cheaper, 
and  who  have  been  crowded  into  the  works  behind  them."  ' 

The  laws  of  Massachusetts. — At  present  most  states  have 
laws  upon  child-labor.     Massachusetts,  which  has  always 


09  Col.  Wright  in  the  Sixth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor 
of  Massachusetts,  p.  51,  says:  "The  rates  of  wages,  after  a  little 
time,  will  readjust  themselves  to  the  new  state  of  things  and  the 
same  amount  of  money,  or  a  somewhat  near  approximation  to  it, 
will  be  earned  by  the  head  of  the  family  as  is  now  earned  by  him 
in  conjunction  with  his  children."  I  think  it  hardly  safe  to  affirm 
that  the  same  equilibrium  will  be  re-established.  Mr.  Bemis  (cited 
by  R.  T.  Ely  in  his  Introduction  to  Political  Economy,  p.  221)  states 
that  the  iron-workers  of  western  Connecticut,  whose  children  do 
not  work,  have  as  large  incomes  as  the  textile  operatives  of  eastern 
Connecticut  whose  children  do  work.  But  this  proves  nothing, 
as  wages  are  universally  higher  in  iron-works  than  in  textile  fac- 
tories. "  In  the  case  where  a  man  is  assisted  by  both  wife  and  chil- 
dren he  earns  the  least,"  Col.  Wright  adds.  But  ate  they  forced 
to  assist  because  his  wages  are  low,  or  are  his  wages  forced  down 
because  they  assist?  '"  P-  9- 


148  The  American  Laborer 

been  solicitous  about  education  and  moral  progress,71  took 
the  lead  in  the  laws  of  1866  and  1867  which  prohibited 
the  employment  of  all  children  under  ten  years  of  age  and 
limited  the  employment  of  children  between  ten  and  fif- 
teen years  to  sixty  hours  a  week,  prohibiting  the  employ- 
ment of  children  of  the  latter  class  altogether,  if  they  had 
not  attended  school  at  least  three  months  in  the  preceding 

72 

year. 

A  commission  was  appointed,  a  board  of  inspection  es- 
tablished and  two  years  later,  a  bureau  of  statistics  of  labor 
was  created.  By  the  law  of  1874  which  I  have  cited  several 
times,  the  labor  of  youths  under  18  years  of  age  was  lim- 
ited to  ten  hours  per  day. 

More  recent  laws  (1882)  prohibit  the  public  exhibition, 
as  acrobats,  dancers,  or  singers,  of  children  under  fifteen; 
(1884)  prohibit  manufacturing  or  commercial  establish- 
ments from  employing  any  youth  under  eighteen  years  of 
age  more  than  ten  hours  per  day  or  sixty  hours  per  week; 
(1880)  prohibit  the  cleaning  of  any  machine  while  in  motion 
by  children  under  fourteen  years,  and  prescribe  a  penalty 
for  any  employer  who  regularly  employs  a  child  under  four- 
teen years  whom  the  employer  knows  cannot  read  and 
write  English  and  has  not  attended  school  the  preceding 
year.  A  law  of  1888  establishes  the  following  rules  ap- 
plicable to  all  establishments  in  which  five  persons,'3  or  two 

71  The  first  law  of  this  kind  in  Massachusetts  dates  from  1836. 
In  1842,  through  the  efforts  of  Horace  Mann,  the  great  peda- 
gogue, the  labor  of  children  was  restricted  in  order  that  they 
might  attend  school. 

72  The  labor  of  women  and  children  has  been  the  subject  of  fre- 
quent legislation  in  Massachusetts  since  1832,  and  since  1836  there 
has  existed  some  law  requiring  school  attendance  from  children 
employed  in  manufacturing  establishments.  The  law  of  1866  lim- 
ited the  hours  of  labor  of  children  under  fourteen  to  eight  per  day 
and  required  that  such  employees  should  have  attended  school  at 
least  six  months  during  the  preceding  year.  The  law  of  1867  re- 
quired that  children  under  fifteen  should  have  had  three  months' 
schooling  in  the  preceding  year  and  fixed  the  labor  limit  at  sixty 
hours  per  week. 

73  The  Pennsylvania  law  does  not  recognize  as  factories  estab- 
lishments in  which  less  than  five  persons  are  employed. 


Labor  Laivs  and  Trade  Regulations  149 

women  or  children,  are  employed;  no  child  under  thirteen73* 
years  of  age  shall  be  employed  at  any  time  in  any  factory, 
workshop  or  mercantile  establishment;  no  such  child  shall 
perform  any  work  for  wages  or  other  compensation  during 
the  hours  when  the  public  schools  of  the  vicinity  are  open, 
nor  be  employed  in  any  manner  during  such  hours  unless 
during  the  preceding  year  he  has  attended  school  for  at 
least  thirty  weeks  as  required  by  law;  no  child  under  four- 
teen years  of  age  shall  be  employed  before  six  o'clock  in 
the  morning  or  after  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  or  be 
employed  at  all  in  any  factory,  workshop  or  mercantile  es- 
tablishment, except  during  school  vacations,  unless  the 
employer  procures  an  official  certificate  attesting  that  the 
child  has  attended  school  at  least  thirty  weeks  during  the 
preceding  year;  no  minor  unable  to  read  and  write  English 
shall  be  employed  unless  he  is  a  regular  attendant  of  an 
evening  school. 

Employers  and  factory  inspectors  must  keep  on  file  a 
complete  list  of  minor  employees,  and  employers  must  post 
in  workrooms  a  notice  stating  the  hours  of  labor,  meal- 
hours,  etc.  Truant  officers  when  directed  by  the  school 
committee  may  visit  workshops,  require  certificates  to  be 
shown  for  all  employees  under  sixteen,  and  bring  prosecu- 
tions against  employers  violating  the  law.  Parents  and 
employers  violating  these  laws  are  punishable  by  fine. 

Laws  of  other  states. — Between  1882  and  1895  twenty 
states  followed  the  example  of  Massachusetts  in  fixing  an 
age  minimum  for  minor  employees,  many  of  them  copying 
the  Massachusetts  law  almost  verbatim.  In  1895  four 
states — California,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey  and  Ver- 
mont, fixed  this  minimum  at  10  years;  six  others  have 
adopted  12  years;  eight,  comprising  Massachusetts,  have 
fixed  it  at  13  or  14  years.  Louisiana  has  fixed  the  mini- 
mum at  12  for  boys  and  14  for  girls.     Six  states  absolutely 


"a  This  limit  was  raised  to  fourteen  years  in  1898.    Mass.,  Acts  of 
1898,  ch.  494,  sec.  1.     [Tr.] 


150  The  American  Laborer 

prohibit  the  employment  of  children  in  mines.  Almost 
all  require  employees  under  14  years  of  age  to  have  attend- 
ed school  from  twelve  to  thirty  weeks  during  the  preceding 
year,  and  limit  to  ten,  some  even  to  eight,  hours  per  day 
the  labor  of  minors  under  16  or  18  years  of  age."  Several 
states  prohibit  the  employment  of  children  in  certain  occu- 
pations dangerous  to  health.  Finally,  in  the  session  of 
1890-91,  Congress  passed  a  law  applying  to  the  territories, 
which  expressly  prohibits  the  employment  of  children  un- 
der 12  years  in  the  underground  workings  of  any  mine, 
under  penalty  of  a  fine  not  to  exceed  $100. 

Application  of  the  lazv. — There  are  many  manufacturers 
who  approve  of  the  principles  underlying  this  legislation 
and  conscientiously  endeavor  to  abide  by  it,  but  there  are 
many  others  who  regard  it  as  a  burden  upon  their  busi- 
ness and  attempt  to  evade  it.  To  these  must  be  added  the 
numerous  body  of  parents  who  through  necessity  or  other- 
wise seek  to  evade  the  laws.  In  states  which  do  not  main- 
tain a  corps  of  salaried  inspectors  the  law  is  openly  vio- 
lated; it  is  often  violated  in  the  states  which  have  such  in- 
spectors. In  many  establishments,  even  at  Boston,  one 
notices  children  under  13  years  of  age.75 

Certain  inspectors'  reports  return  the  relative  number  of 
operatives  under  14  years  of  age  at  less  than  one  per  cent, 
in  Fall  River  and  about  two  per  cent,  in  New  Bedford,  but 
one  cannot  help  wondering  whether  the  number  of  chil- 
dren is  not  concealed  when  the  inspectors  call,  and  whether 
the  ages  given  in  the  certificates  are  always  correct.  "  I 
have  myself  known  parents,"  says  George  Gunton,  "  who 
actually  changed  the  ages  of  all  their  children  in  the  regis- 


74  See  in  this  connection:  Stimson's  Handbook,  and  "Child-Labor," 
by  W.  F.  Willoughby,  Publications  of  the  American  Economic  Asso- 
ciation, vol.  v. 

75  Out  of  125,942  persons  employed  in  the  textile  industries  of 
Massachusetts  in  1888,  there  were  only  1,616  under  fourteen  and 
7,845  from  fourteen  to  sixteen,  about  7l/2  per  cent,  in  all,  under  six- 
teen.    Child-Labor,  by  Clara  de  Graffenried,  p.  66. 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  151 

ter  of  their  family  bible,  dating  their  births  uniformly  two 
years  earlier  in  order  to  evade  the  law  and  get  their  chil- 
dren into  the  mill  two  years  earlier."  u  Other  parents  use 
the  certificates  of  older  children  to  get  employment  for 
their  younger  ones.  There  is  even  a  traffic  in  certificates; 
Canadians  about  to  return  home  often  sell  the  certificates 
of  their  children. 

Cases  often  occur  in  which  a  rigorous  application  of  the 
law  would  cause  great  hardship.  Miss  Clara  de  Graffen- 
ried  cites  the  case  of  a  little  girl  of  twelve  years  who  earned 
about  $1.50  a  week.  When  questioned  by  an  inspector 
"  she  burst  into  pitiful  weeping  and  between  her  sobs  told 
a  sad  story,  afterwards  verified  in  every  particular,  of  her 
mother  with  uncertain  employment,  three  little  sisters,  aged 
grandparents,  one  of  them  blind,  and  nobody  able  to  work. 
'  So,  as  I  am  twelve,  could  read  very  well  and  had  been  to 
school  five  years,  my  mother  thought  I  might  help  her  a 
little.  We  have  been  so  much  better  off  since  I  came  here. 
Oh,  don't  send  me  away.'  "  77 

In  the  matter  of  schooling,  the  masters  of  the  Irish  and 
Canadian  parochial  schools  have  been  accused  of  being  en- 
tirely too  accommodating  in  the  giving  of  certificates;  at 
any  rate,  it  is  well  known  that  some  children  evade  going  to 
school  altogether.  In  Massachusetts,  for  instance,  the 
census  of  1885  showed  that  13  per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants 
between  5  and  14  years  of  age  were  illiterate.  In  the  South 
ignorance  is  much  more  general,  and  the  law  less  respect- 
ed. In  Georgia,  a  few  years  ago,  an  investigation  of  304 
white  employees  revealed  the  fact  that  35  of  them  were 
children,  the  average  age  of  whom  was  between  8  and  9 
years.  More  than  30  per  cent,  of  the  white  employees  of 
American  parentage  employed  in  the  cotton  mills  of  \  ir- 
ginia,  South  Carolina,  Georgia  and  Louisiana  are  without 
education  and  have  never  srone  to  school  for  anv  length  of 


76  Child-Labor,   Publications  of   the  American   Economic  Association. 
vol.  v,  p.  105.  "  Child-Labor,  p.  89. 


152  The  American  Laborer 

time.  A  part  of  those  who  know  how  to  read  were  taught 
in  the  Sunday-schools.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  a 
partial  enforcement  of  laws  such  as  we  have  been  consider- 
ing, though  this  is  no  reason  why  we  should  dispense  with 
the  services  they  can  render. 


IV. 

APPRENTICESHIP. 

A  few  words  upon  the  history  of  the  subject. — The  question 
of  apprenticeship  is  concerned  with  the  employment  of 
children,  although  it  is  quite  distinct  from  the  general  sub- 
ject of  child-labor,  in  which  the  child  is  treated  as  a  small 
workman  with  a  permanent  occupation.  Apprenticeship 
/  is  an  education,  not  a  livelihood.  In  any  event  it  is  one 
of  those  questions  which  in  America  as  in  Europe  hold  the 
attention  of  the  industrial  world  and  at  times  array  the 
laboring  classes  against  the  employers.  Out  of  22,304 
strikes  and  2,214  lockouts  which  are  recorded  between  1866 
and  1881,  213  strikes  and  169  lockouts  were  caused  by 
some  difficulty  about  apprenticeship.'8  This  was  the  cause 
of  the  great  strike  on  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Ouincy 
railroad  in  1888. 

America  is  too  young  to  have  known  the  regime  of  the 
trades  companies.  In  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury the  population  was  almost  entirely  engaged  in  agricul- 
ture, and  manufactures  were  conducted  on  a  very  small 
scale.  The  apprentice  system  existed  at  this  time  as  it  did 
in  England,  but  public  opinion  paid  little  attention  to  the 

78  The  number  of  such  strikes  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  58  out 
of  a  total  of  16,731.  Fourth  Biennial  Report.  .  .  .  Minnesota.  1803- 
94,  pp.  158-163.  For  the  general  question  of  apprenticeship 
see,  among  others,  the  study  of  Mr.  Bolles:  "The  Law  Relating 
to  Workingmen  in  Pennsylvania  "  in  the  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Industrial  Statistics  for  1888.  cf..  First  Biennial  Report,  .  .  .  Colo- 
rado. 1887-88,  p.  31. 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  153 

fact.     The  modern  transformation  of  industry  has  changed 
the  regulation  of  the  workshop.79 

The  causes  of  the  decline  of  apprenticeship  in  America 
and  Europe,  are  various.  Children  have  become  more  in-  ^ 
dependent  and  submit  less  readily  to  a  protracted  period  of 
obedience:  like  the  rest  of  the  family  they  are  anxious  to 
be  drawing  their  wages.  Modern  industry  with  its  machin- 
ery and  division  of  labor  no  longer  requires  the  protracted 
period  of  initiation;  the  modern  manufacturer  has  neither 
time  nor  inclination  to  pay  attention  to  apprentices.  There 
are  young  helpers,  but  there  are  practically  no  apprentices, 
in  the  textile  industries  to-day.  The  chief  of  the  bureau  of 
industrial  statistics  of  Pennsylvania  found  only  two  trades, 
the  baker's  and  the  barber's,  in  which  apprentices  lived  with 
their  masters,  and  he  explains  this  by  the  fact  that  bakers' 
apprentices  must  be  at  work  very  early,  and  barbers'  ap- 
prentices are  not  paid.  He  cites  several  large  establish- 
ments, however,  in  which  apprentices  are  still  taken,  al- 
though they  are  not  fed  or  lodged;  and  he  instances  a  large 
number  of  trades  in  which  apprentices  are  taken  in  this 
way  and  paid  a  certain  salary  during  the  four  or  five  years 
which  they  spend  learning  the  trade  or  some  part  of  it. 

The  formation  of  labor-unions  in  connection  with  the  de- 


79  The  Royal  Commission  on  Labour  in  England  stated  that  ap- 
prenticeship had  declined  with  the  introduction  of  machinery,  the 
division  of  labor  and  the  establishment  of  large  manufactories. 
The  custom  of  binding  out  lads  for  five  or  six  years  still  exists  in 
some  trades,  but  is  fast  disappearing.  The  workmen  themselves 
desire  the  establishment  of  a  law  upon  this  subject.  Some  of  the 
best  organized  trades-unions  have  secured  an  apprenticeship  of 
five  years,  in  their  trade,  and  a  limitation  of  the  number  of  appren- 
tices to  one-third  or  one-fourth  the  number  of  workmen.  It  is 
desirable,  the  workmen  claim,  that  good  workmanship  should  be 
assured  by  long  education,  that  employers  should  not  be  able  to 
reduce  the  productivity  of  labor  by  employing  incapable  workmen 
in  busy  seasons.  The  employers  respond  that  less  time  is  re- 
quired to  learn  a  trade  than  formerly;  that  to  fix  rigidly  the  num- 
ber of  apprentices  is  to  prevent  the  development  of  an  industry; 
that  restrictions  are  almost  always  prejudicial  to  the  public  inter- 
est.    Fifth  and  Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Labour,  p.  16. 


154  The  American  Laborer 

velopment  of  machinery  and  the  evolution  of  the  huge  mod- 
ern industrial  establishment,  have  elevated  the  question  of 
apprenticeship  to  the  dignity  of  a  social  problem.  In  the 
building  industry,  for  instance,  up  to  the  Civil  War,  there 
was  scarcely  anything  but  small  builders  with  a  few  work- 
men and  one  or  two  apprentices  who  lived  with  their  mas- 
ters. After  the  Civil  War  came  the  regime  of  the  large 
contractor,  and  when  his  position  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  look  after  the  apprentices,  they  were  turned  over 
to  ordinary  workmen  who  had  little  authority  and  no  pe- 
cuniary interest  at  stake,  and  in  consequence,  bothered 
themselves  very  little  with  the  apprentices.  In  place  of  ap- 
prentices then,  the  employers  began  to  increase  the  number 
of  low-paid  helpers.  This  touched  the  workmen  at  a  very 
tender  spot  and  the  labor-unions,  many  of  which  were 
founded  at  this  period,  realized  that  they  ought  to  solve  the 
question  of  apprenticeship  themselves,  and  above  all,  that 
they  ought  to  limit  the  number  of  apprentices. 

The  labor  organizations  had  inaugurated  their  movement 
before  the  war,  and  they  conducted  it  with  some  success 
until  about  1875.  Since  then  their  efforts  have  been  para- 
lyzed by  the  employers,  who  have  a  formidable  weapon  in 
the  immigrants  who  still  come  to  America  of  their  own  ac- 
cord, and  who  used  to  be  imported  from  Europe  under  con- 
tract. It  was  about  1875  that  the  Populist  party,  directed 
and  encouraged  by  the  Knights  of  Labor,  obtained  the  first 
law  restricting  immigration. 

The  transformation  of  the  apprentice  system  is  far  from 
complete,  and  harmony  between  employers  and  workmen 
has  by  no  means  been  secured.  It  is  in  the  small  manu- 
factures and  the  building  industries,  rather  than  in  the  large 
manufactures,  that  regulations  have  been  formulated  by 
labor-unions,  and  more  or  less  adopted  by  employers. 

Apprenticeship  in  the  building  trades. — I  shall  note  first 
some  of  the  rules  which  have  been  handed  down  by  custom 
or  which  the  trades-unions  now  attempt  to  enforce. 

The  stone-cutters  for  instance  have  ancient  customs  of 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  155 

apprenticeship  to  which  they  have  remained  faithful  and 
which  their  association — the  Journeymen  Stone-Cutters 
Association  of  North  America — intends  to  consolidate. 
The  apprentice  begins  to  learn  his  trade  when  he  is  between 
15  and  18  years  old,  and  finishes  in  four  years;  he  is 
bound  out  to  a  master,  but  he  remains  under  the  control 
of  the  branch  of  the  Association  in  which  he  is  enrolled,  and 
the  latter  in  turn  takes  care  that  he  does  not  work  longer 
hours  than  the  journeymen,  that  he  is  given  work  which 
will  teach  him  the  trade,  that  the  employer  keeps  him  the 
whole  time  for  which  he  was  engaged,  and,  in  case  the 
employer  goes  out  of  business,  that  he  is  bound  over  to 
another  master.  Each  branch  of  the  Association  reserves 
the  privilege  of  fixing  the  number  of  apprentices  in  each 
establishment  within  its  jurisdiction,  although  this  number 
cannot  exceed  two  in  any  shop  employing  less  than  100 
workmen,  nor  four  in  other  shops. 

The  stone-cutters  of  Chicago,  who  have  an  independent 
organization,  observe  almost  the  same  rules.  They  stipu- 
late in  particular  that  difficulties  between  masters  and  an-,/ 
prentices  shall  be  adjusted  by  committees  of  arbitration, 
that  apprentices  who  leave  their  masters  without  permis- 
sion shall  be  excluded  from  all  union  shops,  and  that  after 
having  served  his  time,  an  apprentice  must  show  a  certifi- 
cate from  his  master  before  he  can  be  admitted  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Association. 

In  the  National  Union  of  Granite-Cutters  the  length  of 
the  apprenticeship  is  only  three  years  and  after  having/ 
worked  at  his  trade  for  three  months  the  apprentice  be-/ 
comes  affiliated  with  the  union,  though  without  a  vote.' 
The  quarry-men  have  a  labor-union  which  enrolls  and  in- 
structs apprentices,  and  fixes  their  number,  age,  and  time 
of  service.  It  is  only  by  degrees  and  not  without  resist- 
ance that  the  employers  have  renounced  their  ancient  right 
of  directing  and  being  responsible  for  apprenticeship. 

The  International  Union  of  Bricklayers  of  America  is 
one  of  the  largest  associations  of  this  class,  because  more 


V 


156  The  American  Laborer 

building  is  done  with  brick  in  the  United  States  than  with 
any  other  material,  except  wood.  This  association  extends 
over  several  of  the  American  republics  and  for  this  reason, 
among  others,  no  uniform  system  of  apprenticeship  has 
been  adopted.  The  by-laws  permit  each  affiliated  union 
to  regulate  apprenticeship  in  its  locality,  though  the  unions 
are  specially  directed  to  register  the  entrance  and  depar- 
ture of  apprentices,  to  find  new  masters  for  apprentices 
whose  first  masters  have  gone  out  of  business,  and  to  debar 
from  all  affiliated  unions  any  apprentice  who  leaves  his 
master  without  a  legitimate  reason.  Several  of  the  branch- 
unions  have  made  agreements  with  associations  of  employ- 
ers by  which  a  common  regulation  is  established. 

The  contract  drawn  between  the  Association  of  Building 
Contractors  and  the  Bricklayers'  Union  of  Boston  is  worthy 
of  further  notice.  It  provides  that  no  apprentice  shall  be 
taken  who  is  unable  to  read  and  write  English,  or  who  is 
less  than  16  or  more  than  21  years  of  age;  that  the  con- 
tractor shall  keep  apprentices  three  years  and  give  them  a 
suitable  instruction  in  the  trade;  that  at  the  expiration  of  his 
time  the  apprentice  shall  receive  a  certificate  of  apprentice- 
ship, upon  presentation  of  which  he  shall  be  entered  as  a 
member  of  the  union;  that  the  register  of  apprentices  shall 
be  kept  regularly  and  that  a  mixed  commission  of  employ- 
ers and  workmen  shall  be  instituted  to  superintend  the  ap- 
prentices and  adjust  differences.  In  Minneapolis  a  similar 
contract  was  signed  in  1892  which  provides,  among  other 
restrictions,  that  there  shall  be  but  one  apprentice  to  each 
contractor,  whatever  number  of  workmen  he  employs.  At 
St.  Paul  the  employer  is  authorized  to  have  one  apprentice 
for  each  eight  workmen.  At  Duluth  it  had  been  the  rule  to 
allow  a  contractor  two  apprentices  irrespective  of  the  num- 
ber of  journeymen  employed.  As  advantage  was  taken  of 
this  by  several  employers  to  keep  no  workmen  beside  ap- 
prentices, the  two  associations,  wishing  to  rid  the  trade  of 
such  encumbrances,  it  is  said,  decided  to  suspend  the  ad- 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  157 

mission  of  apprentices  altogether,  during  the  two  years 
1892-93  and  1893-94.80 

The  United  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  of 
America  officially  declare  one  of  the  objects  of  the  associa- 
tion to  be  the  encouragement  of  "  an  apprentice  system  and 
a  higher  standard  of  skill."  The  local  union  remains  free 
to  make  what  regulations  it  sees  fit  on  this  subject.  In  a 
convention  held  in  Detroit  in  August,  1888,  the  following 
resolutions  were  adopted:  The  length  of  the  apprentice- 
ship shall  be  three  years;  no  apprentice  shall,  without  just 
cause,  leave  his  master  before  the  expiration  of  his  time; 
the  number  of  apprentices  shall  be  controlled  by  the  local 
union,  but  should  be  proportioned  to  the  number  of  jour- 
neymen; unions  are  recommended  to  admit  apprentices  as 
probationary  members  one  year  before  the  end  of  their 
terms,  in  order  that  they  may  prepare  themselves  for  the 
privileges  and  obligations  of  the  brotherhood.81 

Among  the  plumbers,  apprentices  must  have  received  a 
common  school  education,  must  enter  the  trade  between 
the  ages  of  16  and  20  years,  remain  five  years  as  an  appren- 
tice, including  in  this  term  the  trial  period  of  six  months. 
Apprentices  should  be  used  as  helpers  during  the  first  three 
years  and  during  the  last  two  years  as  petty  journeymen. 
Employers  are  entitled  to  one  apprentice  for  each  four 
workmen.  In  New  York  the  workmen  have  made  an 
agreement  whereby  the  employer  is  entitled  to  one  appren- 
tice for  every  three  journeymen,  although  no  one  establish- 
ment may  have  more  than  five  apprentices.82  After  he  has 
served  five  years  the  apprentice  takes  an  examination  be- 
fore a  board  appointed  by  the  union,  by  which  he  is  classed 
for  six  years  as  a  workman  of  the  first  or  second  grade  and 
his  salary  thereby  fixed.  Between  the  journeymen  and  the 
master-plumbers  there  have  been,  and  still  are,  long  and 
animated  controversies  over  the  number  of  apprentices,  the 

80  Fourth  Biennial  Report  ....  Minnesota,  pp.  208  and  209. 

81  Fourth  Biennial  Report  ....  Minnesota,  p.  213.     82  Ibid.,  p.  225. 

12 


158  The  American  Laborer 

employers  declaring  that  they  need  more  assistants,  and 
in  consequence,  more  apprentices  than  the  journeymen 
wish  to  concede. 

In  several  of  the  building  trades,  the  employers  have  es- 
tablished, or  have  endeavored  to  establish,  schools  of  ap- 
prenticeship of  which  I  shall  speak  further  on.  The  work- 
men as  a  rule  are  not  in  favor  of  trade  schools  which,  they 
claim,  are  incapable  of  turning  out  good  workmen,  and 
they  look  upon  the  schools  as  a  means  whereby  apprentices 
will  be  taken  from  their  control.  This  control  they  strongly 
desire  to  retain,  and  it  is  admitted  that  in  the  last  twenty 
years  the  unions  in  the  building  trades  have  made  progress 
in  this  direction. 

The  regulation  of  apprenticeship  in  other  trades. — A  few 
examples  from  other  trades  follow. 

The  International  Brotherhood  of  Blacksmiths  whose 
members  work  for  the  most  part  in  railroad  shops,  have 
fixed  the  period  of  apprenticeship  at  three  years,  one  ap- 
prentice is  allowed  for  each  five  workmen,  and  no  helper  is 
allowed  to  take  a  fire  unless  he  receives  the  wages  of  a 
journeyman.  But  this  association  has  met  with  little  suc- 
cess and  apprentices  have  been  almost  entirely  replaced  by 
helpers,  who  are  now  employed  in  great  numbers.83 

The  International  Brotherhood  of  Machinery  Molders 
reserves  the  right  of  determining  the  number  of  appren- 
tices, fixes  the  apprenticeship  at  four  years,  excludes  from 
all  shops  under  its  jurisdiction  an  apprentice  who  has  de- 
serted his  employer  without  good  reason,  and  gives  to  an 
apprentice  who  has  been  maltreated  the  right  to  leave  his 
master.  But  many  of  the  large  foundries  will  not  tolerate 
this  interference  and  make  their  own  contracts  with  the 
family  of  the  apprentice.84 

The  International  Brotherhood  of  Brass  Workers  has 
fixed  the  minimum  term  at  three  years,  and  certificates  are 
granted  by  the   officers   of  the   local   unions.     Each   local 

"Ibid.,  p.  268.  "Ibid.,  p.  268. 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  159 

union  is  authorized  to  make  regulations  upon  apprentice- 
ship and  to  fix  the  number  of  apprentices,  but  all  regula- 
tions should  be  submitted  to  the  International  Union.8" 

In  the  manufacture  of  machines,  three  classes  may  be  dis- 
tinguished: the  large  establishments  which  for  the  most] 
part  pay  little  attention  to  the  rules  formulated  by  the/ 
unions,  take  as  many  apprentices  as  they  need,  train  them) 
carefully,  providing  instruction  in  arithmetic,  drawing,  etc., 
and  in  fact  make  their  own  rules  about  apprenticeship; 
small  shops  conducted  by  men  who  have  learned  the  trade 
themselves,  and  who  look  after  their  few  apprentices  in 
person;  finally,  the  construction  shops  of  the  railroad  com- 
panies and  certain  other  large  works  which  take  a  great 
number  of  boys  as  helpers,  and  keep  them  constantly  at  the 
same  work  under  the  direction  of  a  few  skilled  workmen, 
without  caring  whether  they  learn  the  trade  or  not. 

The  last  system  of  training  is  encouraged  by  the  use  of 
machinery,  and  tends  to  reduce  wages,  a  fact  which  has 
caused  the  system  to  be  fought  very  bitterly  by  the  two 
labor  organizations  in  this  trade,  the  International  Associa- 
tion of  Machinists  and  the  International  Machinists'  Union. 
The  Association  was  founded  in  1888  and  draws  most  of 
its  members  from  the  South,  although  it  does  not  admit 
negroes;  the  Union  was  founded  in  New  York  in  1891,  and 
makes  no  discrimination  on  account  of  color.  Both  or- 
ganizations require  four  years  apprenticeship  beginning  be- 
tween the  ages  of  16  and  21  years,  and  demand  that  there 
shall  not  be  more  than  one  apprentice  for  every  five 
journeymen.  Only  those  candidates  are  admitted  to  the 
order  as  practical  mechanics,  who  have  served  the  regular 
term  of  apprenticeship  or  who  have  worked  four  years  at  a 
suitable  salary  in  some  workshop  and  who  have  complied 
with  the  other  requirements  of  the  local  lodge.  Their  by- 
laws provide  that  any  member  introducing  into  a  shop,  or 
working  with,  any  person  who  is  not  a  member  or  an  ap- 

85  Ibid.,  p.  251. 


160  The  American  Laborer 

prentice  of  the  order,  shall  on  the  first  offense  be  punished 
with  a  heavy  fine,  and  on  the  second  offense  be  expelled. 
But  these  are  pretensions  which  are  not  always  respected. 
The  unions  are  not  strong  enough  to  prevail  against  the 
regulations  of  the  great  companies,  and  it  is  not  at  all  rare 
to  find  more  than  one  apprentice  to  five  workmen.88 

The  Knights  of  Saint  Crispin,  an  association  formed 
about  the  time  the  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  was 
passing  from  the  condition  of  a  domestic  industry,  showed 
themselves  very  jealous  of  the  control  of  apprenticeship. 
"  No  member  of  this  order,"  said  the  constitution,  "  shall 
teach  or  aid  in  teaching  any  part  or  parts  of  boot  or  shoe- 
making  unless  the  lodge  shall  give  permission  by  a  three- 
fourths  vote  of  those  present,"  and  the  only  exception  made 
was  the  permission  accorded  fathers  to  instruct  their  sons. 
But  machinery  has  proved  to  be  more  powerful  than  the 
organization;  old  methods  have  been  revolutionized  by  the 
division  of  labor;  the  union  which  had  40,000  members  at 
one  time  has  ceased  to  exist,  and  although  it  has  been  suc- 
ceeded by  other  organizations,  the  regulation  of  appren- 
ticeship is  to-day  practically  extinct. 

Almost  the  same  statement  may  be  made  of  the  cigar 
manufacture.  The  foreman  of  a  large  factory  in  which  the 
"bunch  making  and  rolling"  system  was  used,  said:  "We 
have  no  system  of  indenture  in  our  factory.  We  hire  girls 
and  teach  them  the  different  branches  of  the  trade  and  when 
they  show  sufficient  aptitude  we  advance  them  to  other 
branches.  Their  wages  are  raised  accordingly.  .  .  .  About 
ninety  per  cent,  of  those  engaged  in  the  trade  are  foreign- 
ers or  of  foreign  descent.  The  union  still  insists  on  an  ap- 
prenticeship of  three  years We  are  compelled  by 

Eastern  competition  to  employ  this  kind  of  help  at  cheap 
labor We  do  not  teach  boys  the  trade."  s; 


88  Mr.  Powers  states  in  his  investigation,  that  in  the  28  construc- 
tion-shops in  Minneapolis,  there  were  209  workmen  and  60  ap- 
prentices, most  shops  having  more  than  five  apprentices.  One  es- 
tablishment had  15  apprentices  and  12  workmen,     p.  260. 

"Fourth  Biennial  Report  ....  Minnesota,  p.  311. 


Labor  Lazes  and  Trade  Regulations  161 

The  Journeymen  Tailor's  National  Union  of  America  au- 
thorizes each  journeyman  to  have  one  apprentice,  but  the 
privilege  is  seldom  exercised.  Most  of  the  work  is  given 
out  by  piece.  If  it  is  ready-made  work  it  must  be  done 
with  great  speed;  if  it  is  custom  work  it  has  to  be  done 
with  great  care;  in  neither  case  is  there  any  place  for  the 
apprentice.  Moreover,  American  youths  seldom  take  up 
this  occupation:  it  is  filled  almost  entirely  by  immigrants.83 

The  International  Typographical  Union  has  concerned  it- 
self with  apprenticeship  for  many  years,  and  since  1850  has 
attempted  to  limit  the  number  of  apprentices  with  a  view 
of  maintaining  wages;  the  further  regulation  of  apprentice- 
ship, however,  is  left  to  the  local  unions.  The  latter  have 
uniformly  adopted  the  four-year  term,80  and  insist  both  that 
there  shall  be  a  contract  of  apprenticeship  and  that  the  ap- 
prentice shall  serve  out  his  full  time.  The  number  of  ap- 
prentices is  limited.  In  shops  employing  union  workmen, 
the  proportion  of  apprentices  to  journeymen  varies  from 
one-tenth  to  one-fifth,  according  to  the  city  in  which  the 
shop  is  situated.  In  the  general  assembly  of  1893  the  Fed- 
eration of  Typographical  Unions  of  California  resolved  that 
apprentices  should  be  required  to  pass  an  examination  be- 
fore being  admitted  into  the  organization.  The  examina- 
tion had  been  adopted  by  some  unions  before  this  time. 

In  the  cities,  the  large  printing  houses  seldom  have  the 
full  number  of  apprentices  allowed  by  the  union.  They  re- 
cruit their  personnel  chiefly  in  the  towns  and  small  cities, 
where  many  master-printers  assisted  only  by  one  or  more 
apprentices,  do  their  own  work.  When  these  apprentices 
have  finished  out  their  time  and  are  not  needed  in  the  offices 
in  which  they  learned  their  trade,  they  go  to  the  cities  in 
search  of  work.  The  use  of  the  linotype  machine,  of  which 
I  have  spoken  in  the  preceding  chapter,  has  introduced 
many  changes  in  the  trade.     In  view  of  the  diminution  in 

88  Ibid.,  p.  293. 

89  At  first  the  national  union  required  a  five-year  term,  but  this 
was  afterwards  reduced.     Ibid.,  p.  276. 


162  The  American  Laborer 

the  number  of  compositors  which  will  probably  be  caused 
by  this  machine,  the  unions  have  been  led  to  demand  a  re- 
duction in  the  proportion  of  apprentices,  and  to  require  that 
the  latter  be  taught  the  use  of  the  machine  in  their  fourth 
year. 

In  the  textile  industry  the  dyers  guard  the  secret  of  their 
art,  which  is  very  well  paid,  with  great  jealousy  and  refuse 
almost  universally  to  train  apprentices.  The  association  of 
iron  and  steel  workers  has  renounced  such  secrecy  and  has 
adopted  by-laws  regulating  apprenticeship.  Mr.  Bolles, 
who  has  reproduced  a  number  of  these  regulations  in  one 
of  his  reports,90  thinks  there  is  a  tendency  to  reduce  the 
amount  of  restriction  in  most  trades,  as  its  disadvantages 
are  well-understood  by  the  workmen.  Two  of  its  gravest 
consequences  are  found  in  the  facts  that  it  virtually  closes 
some  of  the  best  trades  to  the  children  of  workmen  and 
stimulates  the  invention  and  introduction  of  new  machin- 
ery. 

School  of  apprenticeship. — In  the  building  trades  the  em- 
ployers have  finally  become  convinced  that  in  order  to  main- 
tain their  position  they  must  oppose  federation  with  federa- 
tion, and  in  1887,  after  having  founded  several  local  associa- 
tions, they  formed  a  national  association.  In  their  public 
declaration  of  principles  they  reaffirmed  the  principle  of 
liberty  and  the  absolute  right  of  each  individual  to  work  or 
not  to  work,  to  employ  other  individuals  or  not  to  employ 
them;  they  recognized  the  right  of  laborers  to  organize  and 
expressed  a  desire  to  confer  with  them  when  disputes  arose; 
finally,  they  declared  that  a  uniform  system  of  apprentice- 
/  ship  ought  to  be  adopted  and  that  it  had  become  necessary 
to  establish  evening  and  manual  training  schools.  The  old 
apprentice  system,  they  continued,  could  not  be  revived: 
the  time  had  come  for  technical  schools  under  private  con- 
trol, and  certificates  of  ability  conferred  by  the  employers' 
association. 

90  Pennsylz'ania  Industrial  Statistics,  1893.  20  D. 


Labor  Lazes  and  Trade  Regulations  163 

They  were  not  the  first  to  endorse  the  trade-school.  The 
General  Master  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  Mr.  Powderly,  in 
a  memoir  addressed  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  commis- 
sioners of  labor  in  1888,  had  declared  that  the  remedy  lay 
in  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  industrial  schools  in 
which  the  sciences,  the  arts  and  the  trades  should  be 
taught,  and  he  had  announced,  with  rather  too  much  opti- 
mism, that  thanks  to  this  system  the  American  youth  would 
become  skilled  in  all  kinds  of  trades.91  United  in  their  de- 
mands for  schools,  employers  and  employees  are  divided 
on  the  question  of  the  control  of  such  schools. 

Schools  of  apprenticeship  were  rare  in  1888  and  they  are 
still  rare.  The  most  important  of  these  was  the  school 
founded  by  Col.  Auchmuty,  which  the  Association  of  Con- 
structors took  as  their  model.  But  the  Association  did 
nothing  itself,  and  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  ap- 
prenticeship was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  workmen,  or  at 
least,  that  the  control  of  this  matter  was  divided  between 
the  constructors  and  the  workmen.  They  want  to  get  con- 
trol of  the  schools  and  monopolize  everything,  said  the 
workmen. 

However,  other  efforts  have  been  made.  I  may  mention, 
as  examples,  the  School  of  Industrial  Arts  in  Philadelphia, 
which  is  subsidized  by  the  government  and  has  had  a  well- 
organized  textile  school  since  1882;  five  or  six  schools  of 
horology,  the  most  important  of  which  is  that  maintained 
by  the  works  at  Waltham;  and  the  Manual  Training  School 
of  St.  Louis  founded  upon  an  original  plan  by  Mr.  Wood- 
ward. I  visited  this  establishment,  which  is  said  to  be  the 
oldest  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States  and  was  present  at 
one  lesson  in  which  the  scholars,  after  a  theoretical  demon- 
stration and  an  example  given  upon  the  anvil  by  the 
teacher,  reproduced  in  lead  the  model  which  had  been  made 
before     them.     Similar     schools     have     been     established 


91  The    delegation    of   the    labor   organizations    of    Paris    mention 
with  praise  one  institution  of  this  kind. 


164  The  American  Laborer 

throughout  the  whole  country,  modelled  after  the  Manual 
Training  School  of  St.  Louis.  In  Philadelphia  the  Build- 
ers' Exchange  maintains  an  evening  school  in  which  man- 
ual training  is  given,  and  at  Williamson  there  is  a  day- 
school,  the  School  of  Trades,  which  gives  a  technical  edu- 
cation in  three  years.  The  Drexel  Institute  of  Philadel- 
phia, with  its  remarkable  equipment,  is  designed  for  more 
advanced  work  than  the  training  of  apprentices.  In  New 
York,  free  evening  courses  have  been  instituted  through 
the  munificence  of  Mr.  Cooper,  in  which  mathematics, 
chemistry,  physics,  designing,  modelling,  etc.,  are  taught. 
In  1893  the  membership  of  some  of  these  courses  was  more 
than  300.02 

Laws  upon  apprenticeship. — Most  of  the  older  states  have 
had  laws  upon  apprenticeship  for  many  years.  The  Penn- 
sylvania law,  which  I  shall  take  as  an  example,  goes  back 
to  the  colonial  period.  The  statutes  of  1770  provide  that 
the  parents,  guardians,  or,  in  the  absence  of  these,  the  over- 
seers of  the  poor  shall  have  power  to  bind  out  as  appren- 
tices boys  under  21,  and  girls  under  18,  years  of  age.  The 
courts  have  decided  that  except  in  the  case  of  charitable  in- 
stitutions apprenticing  inmates,  the  consent  of  the  minor 
must  be  obtained.  The  master  must  teach  the  apprentice 
his  trade,  send  him  to  school  if  possible,  see  that  he  attends 
religious  exercises,  without  constraining  his  liberty  of  con- 
science when  he  has  reached  years  of  discretion,  and  act 
towards  him  as  a  father.  The  apprentice  in  turn  owes  obe- 
dience to  his  master.  The  courts  have  annulled  inden- 
tures because  of  insufficient  training  given  to  an  apprentice. 
Fifty  years  ago  it  was  necessary  for  the  apprentice  to  live 
in  the  house  of  his  master;  but  this  is  not  the  case  at  pres- 
ent. The  master  may  not  take  an  apprentice  out  of  the 
state  unless  this  power  has  been  expressly  granted  him. 

"2  Ten  years  before,  there  were  43  state  institutions,  with  6,000 
scholars,  in  which  technical  training  was  given.  But  these  were 
almost  entirely  agricultural  colleges  or  agricultural  departments  of 
state  universities. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  165 

In  most  cases  the  contract  is  annulled  by  the  death  of  the 
master,  but  the  executors  may  endeavor  to  secure  another 
place  for  the  apprentice.  These  rules,  established  by  law 
and  custom,  and  others  which  are  too  lengthy  to  reproduce 
here,  are  still  in  force  in  Pennsylvania.93 

In  the  44  states  and  territories  which  had  laws  upon  ap- 
prenticeship in  1896,  a  minor  can  be  bound  out  by  his  or 
her  father,  mother,  guardian,  or  the  officials  of  charitable 
and  reformatory  institutions;  in  some  states,  e.  g.,  Massa- 
chusetts, California,  Colorado,  Kansas,  minors  can  bind 
themselves  out  although  the  contract  must  be  confirmed  by 
some  authorized  person.  The  age  limit  is  usually  from  18 
to  21  years,  though  in  some  states  it  is  lower.  The  term 
may  be  one  year,  it  cannot  be  more  than  five  years.  These 
contracts  are  sometimes  made  in  order  to  secure  transpor- 
tation from  one  city  to  another,  or  even  from  Europe  to 
America.  According  to  the  several  laws  of  the  different 
states,  the  apprentice  is  or  is  not  freed  by  the  death  of  the 
master  or  by  his  departure  to  another  state.  The  master 
may,  in  certain  cases,  correct  an  apprentice  in  the  manner 
of  a  parent,  but  he  must  treat  him  humanely,  give  him 
some  education,  teach  him  the  trade,  feed  and  lodge  him, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  apprenticeship  provide  him  with  cer- 
tain articles,  usually  a  new  Bible  and  suitable  clothes.04 

The  American  apprentice, — The  trade  of  the  mechanic  re- 
quires considerable  skill  and  the  wages  are  good;  in  Min- 
nesota the  apprentice  receives  70  cents  a  day  in  his  first 
year.  Young  Americans  are  very  favorably  disposed  to- 
wards this  occupation  and  in  Minnesota,  at  least,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  apprentices  in  this  trade  are  of  American  birth, 
while  in  the  rougher  and  more  laborious  trades,  such  as 
stone-cutting  or  molding,  the  Americans  are  in  a  minority. 

63  See  "  Apprenticeship  and  Industrial  Schools  "  in  the  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Secretary  of  Internal  Affairs  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania,  pt.  iii,  Industrial  Statistics,  1893. 

94  Second  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  "  Digest  of 
Apprentice  Laws." 


) 


16G  Tlic  American  Laborer 

In  many  occupations  which  are  somewhat  disagreeable  or 
difficult  to  learn,  the  children  of  American  parents  do  not 
hold  the  rank,  in  point  of  numbers,  to  which  they  are  en- 
titled. They  are  too  anxious  to  be  making  money  and,  it 
is  said,  are  not  stable.  It  is  interesting  to  listen  to  the  tes- 
timony of  an  iron  molder  upon  this  point: 

"  The  question  often  presents  itself  to  the  uninitiated,  Why  are 
there  so  few  really  skilled  native  American  mechanics  in  our  fac- 
tories and  workshops?  ....  In  nearly  every  foundry  I  have  worked 
in  I  have  found  that  not  only  were  the  leading  molders  foreigners, 
but  in  the  most  cases  the  foremen  were  Scotch,  English,  Irish  or 
Germans 

"  As  a  whole,  the  average  American  molder  to-day  will  not  com- 
pare favorably  with  the  foreign  element  in  point  of  skill  or  good 
workmanship.  It  is  not  because  the  American  is  the  inferior  of 
his  European  brother  in  natural  ability  or  mechanical  ingenuity, 
for  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Americans  are  the  greatest  in- 
ventors and  originators  of  any  nation  in  the  world,  but  rather  that 
the  young  men  of  American  birth  and  education  fail  to  use  their 
y/  opportunities,  or  make  use  of  a  trade  only  as  a  stepping-stone  to 
what  they  consider  something  better 

"  The  duty  and  oftentimes  disagreeable  work  of  a  molder  is  dis- 
tasteful to  a  large  majority  of  our  American  young  men,  and  when 
he  has  finished  his  education  he  is  generally  looking  for  something 
which  appears  to  him  to  be  more  genteel,  such  as  book-keeping  or 
a  clerkship.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  often  heard  it  asserted  that  the  reason  there  are  so  few 
good  American  mechanics  turned  out  was  that  the  trades-unions 
opposed  any  system  that  would  increase  the  number  of  competent 
workmen.  .  .  .  To  say  that  the  trades-unions  oppose  an  apprentice- 
ship system  because  it  would  increase  the  number  of  competent  me- 
chanics, is  to  assert  an  ignorance  of  all  the  principles  of  trades- 
unionism  and  the  reasons  for  their  existence." 

The  testimony  of  this  workman  is  undoubtedly  sincere; 
but  are  his  conclusions  correct?95 

The  preceding  testimony  is  partly  confirmed  by  the  edi- 
tor of  the  "  Age  of  Steel." 

"  Much  has  been  said  and  written  of  the  reasons  why  the  aver- 
age American  youth  is  not  so  prominent  as  he  ought  to  be  in 
American  workshops  and  trades.  He  has  been  declared  the  victim 
of  trades-unions  and  alien  handicraft,  and  his  absence  from  na- 
tional industries  not  so  much  a  matter  of  volition  as  of  tyranny. 

95  Fourth  Minnesota  Report,  pp.  252,  253. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  167 

All  this  in  certain  instances  and  localities  may  be  more  or  less 
true,  but  that  it  wholly  accounts  for  the  missing  American  ap- 
prentice no  man  conversant  with  the  details  of  the  situation  can 
conscientiously  assent  to.  The  fact  is  that  while  our  native  youths 
are  both  mentally  and  physically  fitted  for  any  and  every  branch  of 
trade,  they  have  a  keener  eye  for  immediate  returns  of  labor,  rather 
than  those  obtainable  in  the  earlier  processes  of  apprenticeship. 
In  certain  specialties  where  a  few  weeks'  familiarity  with  a  certain  I 
machine  or  process  insures  a  rapid  rise  in  wages,  there  is  no  lack 
of  applicants.  The  candidates  are,  however,  missing  where  pa-  ^ 
tient  and  thorough  shop  education  are  insisted  on  as  a  preliminary 
of  being  an  efficient  mechanic  or  artisan.  .  .  .  The  specialist  or 
simply  automatic  mechanic,  whose  apprenticeship  is  not  worth  the 
name,  is  an  escape  from  what  would  be  manifestly  disastrous  if 
old-time  apprenticeship  was  insisted  upon.  The  all-round  and 
thoroughly  trained  mechanic  is  perhaps  yet  to  be  among  the  miss- 
ing in  the  next  generation."  96 

These  two  articles  were  in  response  to  a  statement,  dis- 
seminated by  the  press  and  widely  believed,  that  the  labor- 
unions  were  composed  largely  of  foreigners,  and  wanted  to  I 
control  apprenticeship  merely  in  order  to  exclude  Ameri-  I 
cans  and  keep  the  trades  to  themselves.  A  paper  by  Mr. 
Powderly  read  at  the  convention  of  labor-commissioners  in 
1888,  contained  the  following  statements:  "An  apprentice 
in  1888  does  not  enter  upon  the  trade  as  the  apprentice  of 
1858  did.  In  1858  the  apprentice  learned  all  the  'arts  and 
mysteries '  of  the  trade,  while  the  beginner  of  to-day  is 
placed  at  a  machine  and  is  apt  to  be  kept  at  it  during  his 
entire  term  of  apprenticeship.  If  he  is  skillful,  and  manipu- 
lates that  machine  to  good  advantage,  he  is  more  likely  to 
be  of  better  service  to  his  employer  than  if  he  were  allowed 
to  take  turns  at  all  of  the  different  branches  of  the  trade; 
but  when  his  term  expires  he  is  of  but  little  use  as  a  me- 
chanic, for  should  he  apply  to  another  employer  for  a  situ- 
ation he  may  not  be  lucky  enough  to  find  employment  at  a 
machine  similar  to  the  one  at  which  he  served  his  term." ' 

There  is  a  very  large  element  of  truth  in  the  testimony 
which  we  have  cited,  but  there  is  some  exaggeration  also. 


Ibid.,  pp.  254,  255. 

Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  Colorado,  1887-8S.  p.  27. 


168  The  American  Laborer 

In  spite  of  their  tendency  to  choose  other  careers,  native 
Americans  are  very  numerous,  often  in  a  large  majority,  in 
the  more  remunerative  trades.  A  recent  investigation 
made  in  Pennsylvania  has  even  established  the  fact  that  al- 
most all  the  apprentices  in  the  35  occupations  studied  were 
Americans.  "  These  figures,"  says  Mr.  Bolles,  "  completely 
refute  the  assertion  that  Americans  do  not  care  to  learn 
trades."  98 

The  parties  to  the  controversy  about  regulation. — In  the 
shape  it  has  assumed  since  the  Civil  War  the  dispute  about 
apprenticeship,  like  so  many  other  social  questions,  is  still 
pending.  As  I  have  said,  it  has  given  rise  to  many  strikes 
and  lockouts.90 

In  the  building  and  many  other  trades,  the  struggle  has 
been  going  on  for  twenty  years  or  more  between  the  un- 
ions and  isolated  employers  or  groups  of  employers,  al- 
though most  of  the  large  establishments  have  been  able  to 
maintain  their  independence.  In  certain  mechanical  indus- 
tries the  development  of  machinery  has  obviated  the  neces- 
sity of  long  technical  training,  and  in  this  way  has  grad- 
ually brought  about  a  negative  solution  of  the  problem. 
In  other  industries  most  of  the  minor  establishments  have 
been  forced  to  yield  the  control  of  apprenticeship  to  the 
unions,  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  consent  to  tacit  or  formal 
compromise.  In  a  word,  the  labor  party  has  gained 
ground,  and  it  will  gain  more.  It  is  most  desirable  that  in 
those  industries  in  which  the  question  has  not  been  settled, 
some  agreement  should  be  reached  by  the  two  parties  to 
the  controversy.  In  a  number  of  these  trades  such  an 
agreement  is  possible  at  once  or  will  become  so  by  the  force 
of  things.100 


98  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  Statistics  of  Pennsylvania,  1893, 
p.  181. 

89  First  Biennial  Report  .  .  .  Colorado,  1887-88,  p.  31. 

100  Apprenticeship  is  on  the  decline  and  the  labor-unions  aspire 
to  control  it,  in  Europe  as  well  as  America.  See  Final  Report  of 
the  Royal  Commission  on  Labour,  p.  17. 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  169 

Whether  the  subject  be  the  rate  of  wages  or  the  hours  of 
labor,  whether  it  concern  itself  with  apprenticeship  or  the 
work  of  women  and  children,  one  finds  in  America  as  in 
Europe  a  perpetual  antagonism  between  two  parties  and 
two  systems:  the  employer  and  the  employee,  individual 
liberty  and  state  intervention.  To-day,  while  he  accepts 
certain  responsibilities  and  admits  the  desirability  of  certain 
sanitary  regulations,  the  entrepreneur  still  warmly  asserts 
his  independence  and  his  right  to  remain  master  in  his  own 
industrial  household.  The  laborer  seeks  to  draw  authority 
unto  himself,  as  in  the  matter  of  apprenticeship,  or,  feeling 
himself  too  feeble  to  impose  his  pleasure  upon  the  employer 
and  knowing  his  own  political  power,  invokes  the  authority 
of  the  state  and  in  the  name  of  the  consumer,  the  general 
welfare,  and  that  of  the  labor  party,  demands  legal  regula- 
tion.101 In  Europe  as  in  America  the  labor  party  believes  in 
the  success  and  efficacy  of  the  policy  of  state  regulation. 
The  democratic  nature  of  the  American  constitution  favors 
the  designs  of  the  laborer  and  gives  him  a  power  which  he 
does  not  possess  in  most  European  states.  Legislators 
take  sides  in  this  controversy,  according  as  they  regard 
production  as  a  private  right  or  a  kind  of  public  function. 

To  me  it  seems  unquestionable  that  existing  industrial 
conditions  and  the  development  of  manufactures  necessi- 
tate sanitary  and  police  regulations  in  certain  cases  which 
are  already,  or  in  the  future  will  be,  recognized.  Among 
the  legitimate  subjects  of  regulation  we  may  include  venti- 


101  In  the  United  States,  as  in  France,  the  labor  party  demands 
public  employment-bureaus,  and  one  of  the  recent  conventions  of 
the  commissioners  of  labor  endorsed  this  project.  (See  Fifth  Re- 
port ....  California,  1891-92.) 

Montana  has  possessed  a  public  bureau  since  1895.  Ohio  now 
has  agencies  of  this  sort  in  five  cities — Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Co- 
lumbus, Toledo,  Dayton — which  in  1893  received  27,000  applica- 
tions and  secured  places  for  13,000  persons;  in  1894  there  were 
29,100  applications  and  places  were  secured  for  9800  applicants. 
[In  1898  there  were  25,000  applications,  and  positions  were  secured 
for  17,208  persons.] 


170  The  American  Laborer 

lation  of  buildings,  child-labor,  protection  from  machinery 
and  precautions  against  fire.  On  the  other  hand,  the  con- 
viction is  settled  among  those  who  recognize  liberty  and 
property  as  essential  principles,  that  adult  persons,  male 
and  female,  are  and  ought  to  be  free  to  make  whatever  con- 
tracts of  sale  or  hire  they  please,  provided  these  contracts 
be  not  immoral.  They  feel,  moreover,  that  legislators  are 
incapable  of  foreseeing,  and  hence  are  incapable  of  limiting, 
the  forms  which  these  contracts  may  take,  and  that  each  in- 
dividual has  the  right  to  dispose  of  his  property  as  he  sees 
fit,  whether  it  consists  of  material  or  immaterial  capital,  on 
the  condition  that  the  equal  rights  of  others  are  not  im- 
paired thereby.  This  dual  right,  they  hold,  is  a  prerequi- 
site of  that  untrammeled  play  of  economic  forces  upon 
which  the  growth  of  wealth  depends. 

To  establish  a  just  balance  between  the  duty  of  provid- 
ing security,  which  is  incumbent  on  the  state,  and  the  right 
of  action,  which  belongs  to  the  individual,  is  a  very  deli- 
cate problem  whose  terms  vary  within  certain  limits  in  ac- 
cordance with  industrial  conditions.  The  present  tendency 
of  democracy  is  to  adopt  an  authoritative,  rather  than  a 
liberal,  settlement  of  the  problem,  and  socialists  favor  inter- 
vention because  they  regard  it  as  the  beginning  of  the 
confiscation  of  private  property.  But  however  freedom  be 
restrained,  legislation  will  hardly  reach  the  point  of  sup- 
pressing industry,  because  production  must  go  on,  and 
there  will  always  be  a  party  of  opposition.  But  legislation 
can  clip  the  wings  of  industrial  enterprise,  and  we  can  never 
afford  to  forget — I  shall  speak  of  it  again — that  wages  are 
in  a  great  measure  dependent  upon  the  productivity  of  in- 
dustry and  the  abundance  of  wealth. 

V. 
INTERNAL  REGULATION 
Discipline  in  workshops  and  factories. — The  internal  regu- 
lation of  a  workshop  is  different  from  that  regulation  es- 


Labor  Laivs  and  Trade  Regulations  1?1 

tablished  by  law,  and  American  manufacturers  have  not 
waited  for  the  law  or  the  trades-unions  to  establish  rules 
for  them.  Speaking  generally  the  industrial  discipline  in 
force  has  been  formed  naturally  by  American  custom  which, 
in  turn,  have  been  derived  from  English  customs.  The 
Anglo-Saxon  is  essentially  a  "  business  man,"  he  busies 
himself  with  his  own  affairs  and  takes  the  shortest  route 
to  the  desired  goal.  As  an  employer  he  expects  his  men 
to  work,  and  he  rids  himself  without  hesitation  of  those  who 
are  unsatisfactory  in  this  particular;  as  a  workman  he  is 
exacting  in  many  respects,  but  realizes  that  he  should 
work  hard  during  working-hours. 

Both  the  rules  established  by  local  law  and  those  framed 
by  individual  employers,  are  usually  placarded  in  the  work- 
shops: this  is  required  by  law  in  most  states.  These  rules 
of  work,  which  are  naturally  different  in  different  indusV 
tries  and  establishments,  I  shall  illustrate  by  a  single  ex- 
ample taken  from  the  largest  locomotive  works  in  America. 
In  this  establishment  every  workman  must  begin  work  j 
when  the  signal  is  given;  one  hour's  wages  are  deducted  if 
the  workman  arrives  after  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  if 
he  is  late  after  the  noon  meal-hour,  or  if  he  quits  work  be- 
fore the  signal  is  given  at  six  o'clock.  Those  who  have  to 
leave  before  this  time  must  notify  the  foreman  and  the  time- 
keeper, under  penalty  of  losing  a  day's  wages.  Workmen 
are  paid  each  week  for  the  amount  of  work  done  up  to  six 
p.  m.  on  the  preceding  Saturday.  The  rate  of  pay  for  Sun- 
day is  twenty-five  per  cent,  higher  than  the  ordinary  rate, 
but  no  advance  is  given  for  ordinary  night-work. 

Upon  entering,  every  workman  or  employee  must  have 
his  name  registered.  Piece-workers,  as  well  as  time-work- 
ers, must  furnish  the  time-office  with  a  detailed  account  of 
their  work  and  assure  themselves  that  the  account  of  the 
office  is  similar  to  their  own.  Every  Saturday  after  hours, 
the  workman  receives  an  envelope  containing  his  money 
and  an  account  of  his  time. 

The  work  is  given  out  to  the  foremen  at  prices  fixed  by 


172  The  American  Laborer 

the  establishment,  and  the  foremen  themselves  settle  with 
the  workmen  in  their  respective  gangs.  Any  piece-worker 
who  begins  a  piece  of  work  must  finish  it,  whether  he  is 
working  alone  or  with  assistants.  Defective  products  and 
spoiled  materials  are  charged  to  the  workman.  The  latter 
is  held  responsible  for  the  tools  entrusted  to  him  and  must 
return  them  in  good  condition  when  he  leaves  the  com- 
pany. Materials  must  be  used  economically  and  the  ma- 
chinery and  shops  must  be  kept  clean.  Workmen  are  not 
to  call  upon  the  ordinary  laborers  for  work  which  they  can 
do  themselves.  During  working-hours,  smoking  and  read- 
ing are  prohibited.  The  youngest  boys  make  about  $2.16 
per  week,  from  which  point  their  wages  gradually  rise.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  they  may  be  put  in 
charge  of  a  machine  in  the  department  in  which  they  have 
been  trained.  From  this  position  they  rise  by  degrees. 
Mr.  Baldwin  has  been  dead  more  than  thirty  years,  and  in 
1893  the  members  of  the  firm,  with  one  exception,  had  all 
been  apprentices  in  the  works.  It  seems  that  it  is  not  rare, 
in  Philadelphia,  to  find  workmen  who  have  thus  elevated 
themselves  to  the  ranks  of  the  employers. 

There  has  not  been  a  strike  in  the  Baldwin  Locomotive 
Works  since  1832,  as  good  wages  are  paid:  $65,000  each 
week  for  5,000  persons,  or  about  $13  per  workman.  The 
prime  wages  of  foremen  are  not  very  high,  but  at  the  end 
of  the  year  they  receive  a  sum  proportioned  to  the  work 
done  under  their  direction.  The  company  acts  as  a  sav- 
ings bank  for  their  employees  and  pays  five  per  cent,  inter- 
est on  deposits,  with  the  privilege  of  withdrawal  at  pleas- 
ure. 

Workmen  who  use  obscene  or  profane  language  or  who 
quarrel  and  fight  are  immediately  discharged. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  internal  regulation  of  these  works 
which  would  be  strange  or  out  of  place  in  any  establish- 
ment of  the  kind  in  Europe  or  America. 

There  is  no  smoking  and,  as  I  have  said,  no  useless  talk- 
ing in   American  workshops.     One  of  the   French  labor- 


Labor  Laws  and  Trade  Regulations  173 

delegates  found  one  regulation  which  read :  "  Conversation 
is  prohibited,  except  with  the  foreman  and  for  the  good  of 
the  service  "  ;ltc  and  he  remarked  that  the  rule  was  strictly 
observed.  I  may  add  that  this  is  the  case  all  over  the  ' 
country.  The  speed  of  the  machines  and  the  activity  which 
it  is  necessary  to  display,  leave  no  time  for  leisure  or  dawd- 
ling, even  if  the  Anglo-Saxon  temperament  were  favorable 
to  these  diversions. 

Even  in  times  of  excitement  the  American  laborer  pre- 
serves his  composure.  The  French  delegates  visited  one 
establishment  just  as  the  men  were  leaving  to  go  on  a 
strike.  "  The  men  were  leaving  the  shops,"  they  write. 
"  having  identified  themselves  with  a  gang  of  weighers 
whose  wages  had  been  reduced.  They  quit  without  any 
noise  or  tumult;  one  felt  that  each  man  was  weighing  the 
consequences.  The  act  seemed  to  be  one  of  mature  re- 
flection, not  of  passion."  103 

I  myself  noticed  the  silence  in  the  workshops  which  I  vis- 
ited. I  noticed  it  even  in  the  mids"tT13fpoptrlar  disturbances./ 
In  Chicago  I  witnessed  a  riot  created  by  a  crowd  of  unem- 
ployed workmen,  most  of  whom  were  probably  foreigners. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  jostling  and  a  few  blows  were 
struck,  but  there  was  no  hubbub. 

The  French  workman  has  a  different  character.  He  is 
a  hard  worker  and  always  ready  to  put  his  shoulder  to  the 
wheel,  but  he  does  not  like  to  be  gagged.  The  bronze- 
worker  of  the  French  delegation  compares  the  American 
workman   with   the   French.104     "  Work   in   the   American 


102  Rapports  de  la  delegation  ouvriere,  p.  297.  103  Ibid.,  p.  13. 

104 1  find  the  counterpart  of  this  opinion  in  an  article  published  in 
the  American  F ederationist  (Indianapolis,  vol.  iii,  No.  3),  by  Mrs. 
Eva  McDonald  Valesh,  who  was  present  at  the  congress  of  the 
Union  des  Chambres  Syndicates  Ouvrieres  at  Marseilles  in  1896.  "The 
Frenchman  does  not  work  very  hard.  He  takes  life  rather  leis- 
urely. There  are  a  multitude  of  industries  in  which  hand  labor 
still  prevails.  While  there  are  many  large  factories,  machinery  has 
not  so  generally  supplanted  hand  production  as  in  the  United 
States.     Even  when  operating  a  machine,  the  workman  does  not 

13 


174  The  American  Laborer 

shops  is  altogether  different  from  what  it  is  in  France.  No- 
body talks,  nobody  sings,  the  most  rigorous  silence  reigns. 
The  men  come  and  go  by  the  clock,  a  half-hour  is  given  for 
the  noon-day  meal;  the  week's  work  is  fifty-eight  hours  in 
summer  and  fifty-nine  in  winter.  To  get  off  for  a  while  one 
has  to  go  through  with  the  greatest  amount  of  red-tape. 
The  French  workman  is  isolated  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  of 
workmen  who  do  not  try  to  make  life  pleasant  for  him;  the 
foreman  surrounds  him  with  young  Americans  who  spy 
upon  him.  But  the  American  artizan  is  in  his  element: 
conversation  and  the  noise  of  laughter  would  distract 
him."  105 

Most  American  workrooms  are  well-kept,  especially  in 
buildings  which  have  recently  been  erected.  This  is  an- 
other point  with  which  the  French  delegates  were  impress- 
ed. "  We  have  discovered  in  our  visits  to  industrial  estab- 
lishments," says  one  of  them,  "  that  hygienic  precautions 
are  the  object  of  constant  attention  on  the  part  of  manu- 
facturers. This  attention  to  health  is  general,  the  differ- 
ence among  different  works  being  one  of  degree  only.  It 
would  be  desirable  to  see  our  French  employers  observe 
their  minimum  at  least;  this  would  be  a  large  step  forward. 
In  addition  to  the  attention  to  hygiene,  we  have  also  no- 
ticed the  precautions  taken  against  fire.  Buckets  of  water, 
together  with  axes  and  saws  are  found  inside  the  buildings, 
on  each  story.  Even  in  railroad  cars  these  articles  are 
found.  It  should  be  said  that  these  precautions  are  obli- 
gatory and  form  a  part  of  insurance  contracts.  On  the 
exterior  the  different  stories  are  connected  by  iron  stair- 
ways." m 

rush.  He  will  stop  the  machine  while  he  chats  with  a  fellow- 
workman.  Occasionally  he  takes  ten  minutes  off  for  a  cigarette 
or  a  glass  of  wine.  If  a  workman  were  deprived  of  this  privilege 
the  whole  factory  would  strike.  They  particularly  object  to  any 
importation  of  American  high-pressure  rates  of  industry.  They 
ask  me  why  our  people  do  not  make  a  stand  against  the  hurry  and 
rush  of  our  factory  system."  American  Federationist.  vol.  iii,  No.  3. 
198  Rapports,  etc..  p.  177.  loe  Ibid.,  p.  31. 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regulations  175 

I  might  multiply  illustrations.  The  delegates  who  visited 
the  great  works  of  Brown,  Sharp  and  Co.  at  Providence, 
say:  "  In  all  our  visits  in  the  United  States,  it  is  certainly 
here  that  we  have  seen  the  best  organized  shops,  the  im- 
proved machinery  and  the  special  disposition  of  the  build- 
ings permit  the  work  to  be  done  under  the  most  economical 
conditions.10'  The  foundry  excited  our  admiration,  as  much 
by  its  cleanliness  as  by  its  perfect  arrangement.  The  floor 
was  paved  with  iron  plates."  The  delegates  add  that  bath- 
and  toilet-rooms  were  at  the  disposition  of  the  workmen.1"8 
In  one  electrical  power-house,  the  delegates  explain,  each 
workman  has  a  locker  in  which  he  keeps  his  clothes:  when 
the  key  is  inserted  in  the  lock  it  automatically  registers  the 
hour  of  his  arrival. 

Ordinarily  the  rules  provide  that  the  fines  imposed  upon 
workmen  shall  accrue  to  the  employer  as  damages.  In 
some  cases  a  small  part  of  the  wages  is  retained  in  order  to 
provide  medical  attendance  in  case  of  sickness — a  practice 
which  would  hardly  be  permitted  by  French  custom. 

Nevertheless,  in  America  as  elsewhere,  the  rules  are  not 
always  enforced  and  the  condition  of  the  workrooms  is  not 
everywhere  beyond  criticism.  It  is  the  large  establishments 
and  the  model  workrooms  which  are  shown  to  the  visitor, 
and  it  is  only  occasionally  that  he  finds  his  way  into  the 
inferior  establishments.  Defective  plant  is  not  at  all  rare 
in  old  factories. 

Thus  the  French  workmen  representing  the  goldsmiths 
and  jewelers  report  that  "  in  the  old  factories  the  most  ele- 
mentary precautions  against  accidents  are  rarely  taken.  We 
have  seen  dangerous  machines,  crowded  one  upon  the 
other,  without  separation,  with  no  guards  around  the  ex- 
posed gear.  ...  So  much  the  worse  for  any  one  who 
comes  in  contact  with  it."  10* 

Testimony  from  American  sources  is  not  wanting  on  this 
subject.     I  quote  from  the  Third  Report  of  the  Commissioner 

107  Ibid.,  p.  78.  ™Ibid.,  p.  418.  ™Ibid.,  p.  249- 


V 


176  The  American  Laborer 

of  Industrial  Statistics  of  Rhode  Island,  a  few  remarks  of 
working  women  upon  the  condition  of  factories  in  that 
state.  "  There  are  very  young  children  employed  in  the 
mill  where  I  am  employed  "  said  a  weaver,  "  and  I  think  in 
all  factories  in  this  section.  Some  of  them,  I  am  sure, 
never  see  the  inside  of  a  school  house."  Said  another 
weaver:  "In  regard  to  mills  they  differ  very  much  as  to 
rules.  ...  One  mill  that  I  know  of  expect  women  weavers 
to  produce  as  much  as  a  man,  and  refuses  to  let  either  wo- 
men or  men  out  in  case  of  sickness.  The  fines  in  this  mill 
are  heavy;  .  .  .  the  help  cannot  wash  up  before  or  after 
the  bell  rings."  A  winder  wrote:  "In  case  of  fire  we 
could  not  get  out  of  the  mill,  because  there  is  a  heavy  wire 
screen  nailed  upon  all  the  windows."  "  I  work  in  a  room 
where  there  are  273  employed,"  said  a  shoemaker,  "  there 
are  but  four  escapes  to  get  out  on,  and  they  are  impossible 
to  reach  on  account  of  the  railing  around  the  ladder  and 
the  distance  from  the  windows."  Another  weaver:  "The 
refuse  remains  in  the  vaults  all  the  week,  being  emptied  on 
Saturday  only.  .  .  .  There  are  no  rules  against  the  help  sit- 
ting down,  but  there  are  no  stools  to  sit  on."  A  drawer-in: 
"  The  laws  regulating  the  employment  of  children  are 
openly  defied.  It  is  shameful  and  degrading  to  human  kind 
to  witness  the  spectacle  presented  to  the  eye  in  the  carding, 
spinning,  and  mule  rooms."  A  cardmaker:  "The  child- 
labor  laws  are  totally  disregarded,  as  is  the  ten-hour  law." 
It  would  be  unjust  to  close  the  chapter  with  these  criti- 
cisms, because  they  fail  to  give  the  characteristic  note  of 
American  methods.  I  choose  rather  to  conclude  with  the 
words  of  a  competent  French  authority,  Mr.  Arbel.  to 
whom  the  organization  of  the  labor  force  in  the  Bethlehem 
works  seemed  very  practical.  "  They  act  upon  the  princi- 
ple that  a  workman  should  never  be  taken  from  his  spe- 
cialty, and  that  as  far  as  possible  he  should  be  kept  mak- 
ing the  same  thing.  The  result  is  an  extreme  rapidity  of 
production.  Moreover  the  tools  are  never  repaired  by  the 
workmen  who  use  them,  but  by  a  special  corps  who  work 


Labor  Lazvs  and  Trade  Regidations  177 

according  to  fixed  rules.  .  .  .  On  entering  the  shop  each 
workman  receives  a  set  of  the  tools  he  must  have,  and  more 
than  ten  checks  with  which  he  can  obtain  fresh  tools  when 
the  first  ones  get  dull  or  out  of  order.  There  is  not  a  grind- 
stone in  the  general  workshop,  and  the  men  thus  have  no 
excuse  for  leaving  their  work.  This  system  is  carried  to 
such  an  extreme  in  shops  which  I  saw,  that  a  squad  of  boys 
is  kept  to  carry  tools  to  the  men;  each  machine  has  a  regu- 
lar number  and  an  electric  bell,  and  when  the  man  in  charge 
of  the  machine  wants  a  new  tool  he  sends  a  check  to  the 
tool  room  in  exchange  for  which  the  new  tool  will  be 
given."110 

110  Rapport  sur  I'Exposition  de  Chicago,  by  P.  Arbel. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ORGANIZATIONS  OF  LABOR 

J- 

Early  American  Unions. — Traces  of  associations  of  la- 
borers have  been  discovered  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century.  Thus,  the  ship-carpenters  of  New  York  or- 
ganized a  strike  in  1803,  the  tailors  had  formed  a  union  as 
early  as  1817,  the  hatters  organized  in  1819,  and  in  1822  an 
association  of  shipwrights  and  calkers  received  a  charter  of 
incorporation  in  Boston.  Actual  proof  of  the  organization 
of  unions,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  earlier  than  the  period 
1825-1830  in  which  the  Evans  brothers  advocated  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  public  lands  in  the  Workmgman's  Advocate 
of  New  York.  In  1830  trades-unions  were  so  numerous  that 
a  general  convention  was  called,  and  this  assembly  was  fol- 
lowed by  several  others  of  the  same  kind.  As  a  rule,  the 
employers  regarded  these  attempts  to  organize  with  dis- 
favor, and  most  of  the  unions  disappeared  during  the  crisis 
of  1837.  But  new  ones  were  soon  formed.  In  1845,  f°r 
example,  the  New  England  Workingmen's  Association, 
which  advocated  among  other  reforms  the  amelioration  of 
the  condition  of  women  and  children,  held  its  first 
annual  convention  in  Boston.  The  crisis  of  1847  played 
havoc  with  the  unions  as  the  crisis  of  1837  had  done.  But 
there  was  a  second  revival,  and  it  was  during  this  renais- 
sance that  the  unions  grouped  themselves  into  national  and 
international  organizations,  which,  after  they  were  formed, 
turned  themselves  to  the  organization  of  branches  in  those 
districts  to  which  the  spirit  of  solidarity  had  not  penetrated. 
These  associations  passed  through  the  crisis  of  1857  with 
great  difficulty  and  with  greater  difficulty  still,  through  the 


Organizations  of  Labor  179 

crisis  of  1873.  When  work  is  scarce,  the  workmen  have 
but  little  inclination  to  discuss  the  wage-problem  and  but 
scant  means  wherewith  to  support  their  unions. 

The  War  of  the  Rebellion,  far  from  discouraging  the  or- 
ganization of  labor,  stimulated  it,  as  it  did  the  general  pro- 
gress of  industry  in  the  North.  The  National  Typo- 
graphical Union  had  been  formed  in  1859,  the  hatters'  union 
in  1854,  the  association  of  blacksmiths  and  mechanics  in 
1859,  that  of  the  locomotive  engineers  in  1863,  the  cigar- 
makers'  union  in  1864,  those  of  the  bricklayers  and  tailors 
in  1865,  and  the  organization  of  shoemakers  in  1866.  The 
latter  year  saw  the  convocation  at  Baltimore  of  the  first 
great  labor-congress,  brought  about  by  the  trades-unions 
which  at  that  time  existed  in  about  forty  trades  and  indus- 
tries.1 The  International  Workingmen's  Association, 
founded  in  London  in  1864,  had  not  been  without  influence 
upon  this  movement,  but  its  effect  was  very  limited  and 
ceased  altogether  after  the  Paris  Commune  in  1871. 

Great  disturbances  followed  the  crisis  of  1873,  and  strikes 
occurred  all  over  the  country.  A  very  prominent  part  in 
this  agitation  was  taken  by  the  textile  workers  of  New  Eng- 
land, who  had  had  no  organizations  up  to  this  time.  Dur- 
ing the  struggle  many  unions  were  formed,  but  they  disap- 
peared with  the  occasion  which  had  called  them  into  being.5 
Before  this  time  a  number  of  important  unions  of  iron-work- 
ers had  been  formed:  The  United  Sons  of  Vulcan  in  1858; 
in  1872  the  Associated  Brotherhood  of  Iron  and  Steel  Rail 
Heaters,  which  succumbed  to  the  opposition  of  employers 
and  internal  dissensions;  and  in  1873  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Roll  Hands'  Union.  In  1876  these  and  other  organizations 
were  united  in  the  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and 
Steel-Workers  of  the  United  States,  which  after  passing 
through  many  initial  difficulties  seems  now  to  rest  upon  a 
solid  basis. 


1  A  list  is  given  by  Mr.  McNeill  in  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  128. 

2  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  153. 


180  The  American  Laborer 

Such  has  been  the  history  of  a  number  of  other  organiza- 
tions. Many  are  still  struggling  with  the  maladies  of  in- 
fancy. Many,  on  the  other  hand,  have  become  very  im- 
portant. As  a  general  statement,  it  may  be  asserted  that 
the  labor-union  has  made  great  progress  in  the  United 
States  during  the  last  twenty  years  and  that  it  is  now 
strongly  rooted  in  the  customs  of  the  laboring  people.  Thus, 
in  1880,  the  carpenters'  union  of  Chicago  contained  only 
400  out  of  the  6000  carpenters  of  that  city.  In  1893  the 
membership  numbered  12,000,  a  very  large  majority  of  the 
whole  body  of  carpenters.  In  the  State  of  New  York,  out 
of  695  unions  responding  to  an  inquiry  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor,  only  88  had  been  founded  before  the  year  of  1880, 
while  507  had  been  founded  between  1880  and  1894.  In 
the  West,  where  the  democratic  movement  has  not  been 
counterbalanced  by  other  influences,  the  union  is  particu- 
larly popular.  In  Colorado,  for  instance,  where  there  was 
not  a  union  until  i860,  the  proportion  of  labor-unions  to  the 
whole  population  was  greater  in  1888  than  in  any  other 
State. 

England  has  been  the  model.  English  immigrants  have 
always  brought  with  them  the  spirit  of  organization;  often 
they  have  remained  affiliated  with  the  trades-unions  to 
which  they  belonged  at  home.  The  union  has  sometimes 
been  denounced  as  the  creation  and  the  creature  of  immi- 
grants. That  they  have  favored  the  immigrant  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  native  workman  is  untrue;  at  least  there  are 
many  unions  which  furnish  evidence  to  the  contrary.  Thus, 
the  glass-workers  charge  an  entrance  fee  of  $100  to  all  ex- 
cept American-born  candidates.  As  for  the  rest  of  the  ac- 
cusation, it  is  not  denied  that  the  ideas  which  circulate 
among  the  working  classes  cross  the  ocean  with  the  tide  of 
immigration.  But  America  is  now  such  an  active  center  of 
social  movements  that  she,  in  turn,  may  lay  claim  to  the 
distinction  of  rousing  old  Europe. 

In  Philadelphia  in  1870  an  association  was  organized  in 


Organizations  of  Labor  181 

an  obscure  way,  which  has  from  the  very  beginning  affected 
the  charms  of  secrecy:  the  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor. 
The  active  career  of  this  organization  did  not  commence 
until  three  years  later,  and  for  a  dozen  years  or  thereabout, 
until  it  had  been  discredited  by  political  defeats,  by  religious 
differences  and  by  quarrels  with  other  organizations  which 
it  had  tried  to  subject  or  supplant,  its  career  was  very  ac- 
tive and  even  brilliant.  But  another  organization  with  a 
different  platform,  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  took 
its  place.  It  musters  on  its  roll  thousands  of  local  unions, 
and  counts  its  adherents  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands.  In 
1893  a  third  great  federation  was  planned  by  the  employees 
of  railroads. 

In  the  organization  of  labor  in  America,  several  stages  are 
presented  which  it  is  necessary  to  differentiate:  (1)  local 
unions,  which  are  usually  composed  of  workmen  following 
the  same  trade  in  the  same  locality;  (2)  national  or  interna- 
tional unions 3  which  include  all  or  a  large  part  of  the  local 
unions  of  one  trade,  though  they  are  sometimes  formed  of 
the  local  unions  of  a  group  of  allied  trades;  (3)  district 
unions;  (4)  councils  of  the  building  trades  which  in  several 
large  cities  effect  a  combination  of  the  local  unions  of  the 
building  trades;  (5)  the  two  great  federations — the  Knights 
of  Labor  and  the  Federation  of  Labor — and  the  five  asso- 
ciations of  railway-employees  which,  with  the  object  of  con- 
certed action,  have  united  or  are  uniting  a  great  number  of 
assemblies,  lodges,  and  national  or  international  unions. 

Liberty  and  the  law. — In  the  United  States  the  freedom 
of  association  is  unrestricted;  it  is  one  of  the  rights  guar- 
anteed to  each  individual  and  is  entrenched  in  the  customs 
as  well  as  the  constitutions  of  the  country.  Workingmen 
have  no  trouble  on  this  score;  they  can  unite  and  organize 
as  they  please.     But   the   privilege  of   securing  corporate 


3  National  when  they  do  not  extend  beyond  the  United  States; 
international  when  they  include  local  branches  in  another  country. 
The  foreign  unions  are  usually  Canadian,  but  sometimes  Mexican. 


182  The  American  Laborer 

rights  is  not  granted  to  labor  organizations  in  every  Ameri- 
can State.4 

Massachusetts  passed  a  law  in  1888  which  confers  corpo- 
rate rights  upon  associations  of  seven  or  more  persons 
united  for  the  purpose  of  improving  by  lawful  means  the 
condition  of  employees,  either  in  respect  to  their  employ- 
ment, or  by  the  payment  of  benefits  to  members  when  sick 
or  unemployed  or  to  persons  dependent  upon  deceased 
members.  This  law  specifies  certain  provisions  which  shall 
be  clearly  determined  in  the  by-laws  of  incorporated  labor- 
unions,  and  instructs  the  commissioner  of  corporations  to 
approve  the  certificate  of  organization  when  he  is  satisfied 
that  the  by-laws  contain  no  provision  contrary  to  law  and 
the  purpose  of  the  association  is  a  lawful  one.  The  law 
further  provides  that  no  by-law  shall  be  changed  or  re- 
scinded unless  notice  of  the  proposed  action  has  been  given 
at  a  previous  meeting  of  the  union,  and  that  no  such  change 
shall  take  effect  until  it  has  been  approved  by  the  commis- 
sioner of  corporations. 

In  1880,  Iowa  granted  the  right  of  incorporation  to  tem- 
perance societies,  and  to  trades-unions  and  other  organiza- 
tions of  labor;  Michigan  passed  similar  laws  in  1882;  and  in 
1887  Wyoming  expressly  included  the  Knights  of  Labor 
among  those  associations  entitled  to  corporate  rights.  A 
similar  law  was  enacted  by  Louisiana  in  1890  and  later,  by 
several  other  States.  A  majority  of  the  States  have  for- 
mally guaranteed  labor-unions  exclusive  property  in  the 
labels  or  trade-marks  adopted  to  designate  their  own  pro- 
ducts. 

In  1892  the  legislature  of  Ohio  passed  a  law  which  made 
it  unlawful  for  any  employer  or  the  agent  of  any  firm  or  cor- 


4  On  this  subject  see  Stimson's  Hand-book,  p.  168.  "  While  the 
general  corporation  acts  did  not  expressly  mention  such  associa- 
tions, they  could  not,  of  course,  organize  as  corporations  or  joint- 
stock  companies;  but  the  association,  regarded  as  a  voluntary  asso- 
ciation for  whose  obligations  each  member  might  become  liable, 
was  always  perfectly  legal  in  all  the  states  of  this  country " 


Organizations  of  Labor  183 

poration  to  prevent  an  employee  from  joining  or  belonging 
to  any  lawful  labor-organization,  and  provided  that  attempts 
to  prevent  employees  from  connecting  themselves  with  such 
organizations,  by  discharge  or  threats  of  discharge,  should 
be  treated  as  misdemeanors  subjecting  the  offender  to  a  fine 
not  to  exceed  $100  and  imprisonment  for  not  more  than 
six  months.  A  number  of  other  States,  including  New 
York,  Massachusetts,  Wisconsin,  California,  Idaho,  Illinois, 
Indiana  and  Missouri,  have  made  it  unlawful  to  discharge 
an  employee  for  affiliating  with  a  labor-organization  or  to 
exact  contracts  in  which  the  employee  pledges  himself  not 
to  join  such  organization.  Wyoming  even  makes  it  a 
misdemeanor  to  discharge  an  employee  because  of  his  nomi- 
nation for  public  office. 

The  Missouri  law  was  approved  March  6,  1893.  Shortly 
afterwards,  George  Julow  was  fined  $50  by  the  St.  Louis 
court  of  criminal  correction  for  discharging  an  employee 
because  of  his  refusing  to  withdraw  from  a  union.  He  ap- 
pealed the  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri  which  in 
a  decision  handed  down  on  the  eighteenth  of  June,  1895. 
declared  the  lav/  unconstitutional.  "  If  an  owner  .... 
obeys  the  law  on  which  this  prosecution  rests,"  said  the 
court,  "  he  is  thereby  deprived  of  a  right  and  a  liberty  to 
contract  or  terminate  a  contract,  as  all  others  may;  if  he 
disobeys  it,  then  he  is  punished  for  the  performance  of  an 
act  wholly  innocent,  unless,  indeed,  the  doing  of  such  act. 
guaranteed  by  the  organic  law,  the  exercise  of  a  right  of 
which  the  legislature  is  forbidden  to  deprive  him,  can  by 
that  body  be  conclusively  pronounced  criminal.  We  deny 
the  right  of  the  legislature  to  do  this."  ! 

In  the  session  of  1885-1886,  after  having  been  petitioned 
by  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers  as  early  as 
1 87 1,  Congress  finally  passed  a  law  for  the  incorporation  of 
national  trades-unions,  which  'defined  the  term  "  National 
Trade  Union  "  as  "  any  association  of  working  people  hav- 

5  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  Jan.,  1896,  p.  207. 


184  The  American  Laborer 

ing  two  or  more  branches  in  the  States  or  Territories  of  the 
United  States  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  its  members  to  be- 
come more  skillful  and  efficient  workers,  the  promotion  of 
their  general  intelligence,  the  elevation  of  their  character, 
the  regulation  of  their  wages  and  their  hours  and  condi- 
tions of  labor,  the  protection  of  their  individual  rights  in 
the  prosecution  of  their  trade  or  trades,  the  raising  of  funds 
for  the  benefit  of  sick,  disabled,  or  unemployed  members, 
or  the  families  of  deceased  members,  or  for  such  other  ob- 
ject or  objects  for  which  working  people  may  lawfully  com- 
bine, having  in  view  their  mutual  protection  or  benefit." 
Upon  filing  their  articles  of  incorporation  such  a  national 
union  becomes  a  corporation  with  the  right  to  sue  and  be 
sued,  to  grant,  receive,  and  use  real  and  personal  property, 
provided  that  only  so  much  real  estate  is  held,  as  is  re- 
quired for  the  immediate  purposes  of  incorporation.  The 
headquarters  of  an  incorporated  national  trade-union  must 
be  located  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

This  legislation  has  been  enacted  in  the  United  States 
within  the  last  twenty  years,  and  was  synchronous  with  the 
movement  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  great  federa- 
tions of  labor.  Little  by  little  it  enters  into  the  customs 
of  the  people  and  in  several  cases  the  courts  have  ratified 
acts  of  labor-unions  done  in  conformity  with  their  by-laws.6 
If  it  be  the  object  of  law  to  voice  the  needs  and  em- 
body the  customs  of  the  people,  the  legalization  of  trades- 

6  In  1896,  Lucien  Conterno,  a  master-musician  of  New  York  city, 
engaged  for  his  troupe  a  cornet  and  a  clarionet  who  were  non-union 
men.  Having  refused  to  discharge  the  men  at  the  command  of  the 
musical  union  to  which  he  belonged,  he  was  first  fined  $100  and 
then  suspended.  He  brought  suit  against  the  union  for  $5000  dam- 
ages. The  court  decided  that  trades-unions  are  authorized  by  law 
and  possess  the  right  of  regulating  the  wages  and  hours  of  labor 
of  their  members;  that  such  unions  may  prohibit  members  from 
working  with  non-unionists  and  enforce  their  prohibitions  by 
fines:  that  a  court  of  equity  will  not  revise  the  judgments  of  such 
associations  when  these  judgments  have  been  rendered  in  con- 
formity with  their  by-laws  and  after  the  offenders  have  been  heard 
in  their  own  defense.     American  Federationist,  March,  1896. 


Organizations  of  Labor  185 

unions  has  now  become  a  necessity,  and  it  is  probable  that 
sooner  or  later  all  the  manufacturing  States  will  follow 
the  example  of  the  federal  government.  But  it  is  regret- 
table that  the  law  which  furnishes  the  model  should  confer 
a  privilege  without  demanding  an  equivalent  return.  Na- 
tional unions  may  acquire  a  legal  personality  by  merely  fil- 
ing their  articles  of  incorporation;  no  other  declaration  is 
required,  and  no  responsibility  seems  to  be  imposed  upon 
any  one.  National  unions  may  change  their  regulations  at 
pleasure,  they  are  not  required  to  report  their  financial  con- 
ditions, a  dozen  people  are  enough  to  constitute  the  two 
necessary  branches,  and  as  no  names  have  to  be  published, 
the  leaders  are  absolutely  irresponsible.  Such  laxity  simply 
opens  the  door  to  schemes  and  schemers.7 

Local  unions. — There  is  probably  not  a  single  town  of  any 
importance  in  the  United  States,  which  does  not  contain  one 
or  more  labor-unions.  In  Chattanooga,  a  southern  city 
whose  manufacturing  industries  are  of  recent  introduction, 
I  counted  twenty-two  unions  of  various  kinds.  A  national 
union  often  has  several  local  unions  in  the  same  town. 
Among  the  carpenters  of  Chicago,  for  example,  in  1893, 
there  were  23  unions  of  the  United  Brotherhood,  5  branches 
of  the  Amalgamated  Society,  and  4  assemblies  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor. 

In  December,  1892,  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
included  7031  local  unions  united  in  79  national  or  inter- 
national organizations,  and  1500  local  unions  not  united  in 
a  national  association.8  The  report  of  the  Federation  stated 
that  there  were  in  addition  several  thousand  local  unions  in 
the  United  States,  unaffiliated  either  with  the  Federation  or 
with  any  other  national  association.  Other  authorities  place 
the  number  of  local  unions  in  the  United  States  at  12,000. 

Local  unions  that  belong  to  national  organizations  make 


7  Such  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Edward  Cummings.     See  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Economics,  July,  1895. 

8  In    December,    1899,    it   included    71  -national   unions,    11    State 
branches,  no  city  central  unions  and  674  local  unions.     [Tr.] 


186  The  American  Laborer 

what  rules  they  please,  provided  they  are  not  contrary  to 
the  general  law  of  the  national  union.  Their  revenue  is 
made  up  of  entrance-fees  and  members'  dues.  Most  of 
them  act  as  mutual  aid  societies,  paying  sick-benefits  and, 
in  case  of  death,  the  funeral  expenses,  together  with  a  cer- 
tain sum  to  the  family.  They  also  insure  against  strikes  and 
non-employment,  most  of  them  having  funds  reserved  for 
these  purposes. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Painters  and  Decorators  recom- 
mends local  unions  to  procure  a  permanent  office  and  a 
library,  to  have  meetings  at  stated  times,  and  to  establish 
amicable  relations  with  other  organizations.  Unions  are 
instructed  to  have  a  president;  a  vice-president;  two  secre- 
taries; a  guide,  who  among  other  duties  must  demand  the 
pass-word  from  each  member  participating  in  the  evening 
exercises;  a  guard,  who  is  placed  at  the  door  and  takes  care 
that  no  one  enters  without  giving  the  pass-word;  and  in 
case  it  is  necessary,  a  sentinel  to  remain  outside  of  the  door. 
There  must  be  at  least  three  trustees  to  whom  is  entrusted 
the  property  of  the  union.  These  dignitaries — the  number 
seems  rather  excessive — are  elected  for  six  months  and  re- 
ceive stipends.  The  members  of  the  committees  are  ap- 
pointed directly  by  the  president,  in  imitation  of  congres- 
sional procedure. 

In  illustration,  the  following  items  may  be  cited  from  the 
accounts  of  the  New  York  Typographical  Union  No.  6, 
which  is  one  of  the  most  important  and  best  organized  local 
unions  belonging  to  the  International  Union.  This  union, 
which  possessed  4936  members  in  1896,  is  administered  by 
a  staff  consisting  of  a  president,  a  vice-president,  a  secretary, 
a  treasurer,  a  sergeant-at-arms,  three  trustees,  three  auditors, 
an  executive  council  and  other  committees.  It  is  divided 
into  as  many  "  Chapels  "  or  small  groups  as  there  are  typo- 
graphical establishments  represented."  Each  year  the  sec- 
retary and  treasurer  present  a  detailed  report  of  the  monthly 

8  190  Chapels  in  May.  1900.     [Tr.] 


Organizations  of  Labor  187 

receipts  and  expenditures,  which  is  printed  and  distributed 
among  the  members.  The  gross  receipts  for  1891-92 
amounted  to  $38,304,  of  which  $27,005  came  from  the  regu- 
lar dues,  $606  from  special  assessments,  $1800  from  be- 
quests, etc.  The  expenditures  amounted  to  $38,700  of 
which  $9783  was  paid  to  the  International  Union,  $8969  for 
funeral  benefits,10  $4315  for  the  Childs-Drexel  Home,  $3350 
for  salaries,  etc.11 

The  number  of  women  in  the  unions  is  still  relatively 
small.  But  it  is  increasing.  In  New  York  for  instance,  in 
July,  1894,  there  were  7488,  and  in  July,  1895,  10,102  fe- 
male members,  distributed  among  180,231  unions.  There 
are  some  unions  composed  exclusively  of  women.12 

The  councils  of  the  building-trades. — In  America,  as  in 
England,  there  are  in  certain  cities  "  district  unions,"  federa- 
tions of  all  the  local  unions  of  a  particular  trade  within  cer- 
tain territorial  limits,  and  in  several  of  the  largest  cities  there 
are  councils  of  the  building-trades,  which  connect  the  local 
unions  and  exercise  a  certain  amount  of  authority  over 
them.  Thus  the  Council  of  Boston  has  under  its  ju- 
risdiction 45  unions.  Every  three  months  each  member  of 
these  unions  is  presented  with  a  "  working  card,"  which  he 
must  carry  with  him,  and  be  ready  to  exhibit  at  the  demand 
of  any  other  member.  A  sufficient  idea  of  the  nature  of 
this  institution  may  be  obtained  from  the  brief  account  of 
the  Building  Trades  Council  of  Chicago  and  Vicinity,  which 
follows. 


10  The  death-benefit  is  $150. 

11  The  total  receipts  for  the  year  ending  July  25,  1899,  were  $92,- 
357.83.  of  which  $33,565.34  came  from  dues;  $43,57379  from  assess- 
ments; the  remainder  from  fines,  initiation  fees,  etc.  The  disburse- 
ments amounted  to  $89,035.55,  of  which  $14,935.11  were  for  general 
expenses,  $32,925.27  for  "  out-of-work "  benefits,  $10,950.60  for 
funeral  benefits,  $18,808.04  for  the  tax  paid  to  the  International 
Union,  $1461.90  for  the  hospital  fund,  $165.26  for  strike  benefits,  etc. 

"  These  unions  are  most  numerous  in  the  manufacture  of  cloth- 
ing, shirts,  and  cigars.  See  Summary  of  the  Thirteenth  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Commissioner  of  Statistics  of  Labor,  New  York. 


188  The  American  Laborer 

The  objects  of  the  council,  says  the  constitution,  are  to 
centralize  the  efforts  of  the  building-trades,  and  to  form  a 
compact  body  which  shall  oppose  common  foes  and  pro- 
mote undertakings  of  common  benefit.  The  council  is 
composed  of  five  delegates  from  each  trade,  who  are  elected 
for  six  months,  prohibited  from  holding  political  office,  and 
who  must  be  workmen.  The  dues  are  ten  dollars,  payable  at 
first  as  an  entrance-fee  and  afterwards  in  case  of  need.  The 
staff  includes  a  president,  a  vice-president  and  seven  other 
officers,  not  more  than  one  of  which  can  be  elected  from 
the  same  trade.  No  officer  can  vote  on  matters  exclusively 
affecting  his  own  trade.  When  a  trade  desires  an  increase 
of  wages  or  a  reduction  in  the  number  of  hours,  it  must 
present  a  detailed  statement  at  least  two  weeks  before  it  in- 
tends to  take  action,  and  the  matter  is  then  laid  before  the 
several  trades  represented  by  the  officers  of  the  council.  If 
the  demand  is  approved  by  two-thirds  of  the  trades,  all  must 
unite  solidly  in  the  effort  to  enforce  it.  Unions,  however, 
have  the  right  to  undertake  such  movements  at  any  time 
on  their  own  responsibility. 

If  a  difference  arises  grave  enough  to  cause  a  strike,  an 
effort  should  be  made  to  settle  the  affair  with  the  employer 
by  consultation  or  arbitration.  In  case  this  fails  the  mem- 
bers are  called  together,  and  if  two-thirds  are  in  favor  of  the 
strike,  it  is  declared.  Affiliated  trades  ought  not  to  interfere 
in  the  affairs  of  outside  trades,  and  the  assistance  of  the 
council  can  only  be  given  to  affiliated  trades.  However, 
members  must  make  every  effort  to  induce  unaffiliated 
workmen  to  join  some  union.  Every  three  months  the 
council  delivers  to  the  unions  the  working-cards,  marked 
on  one  side  with  the  stamp  of  the  council,  on  the  other, 
with  the  stamp  of  the  union.  A  chief  inspector  and  two 
assistants  look  after  the  shops  to  see  that  only  union  men 
are  employed.13  One  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  this 
kind  of  organization  is  the  sympathetic  strike. 

13  Constitution  and  By-Laws  of  the  Building  Trades'  Council  of  Chi- 
cago and  Vicinity,  Chicago,  1892. 


Organizations  of  Labor  189 

There  are  also  State  federations,  very  similar  to  the  dis- 
trict councils,  which  serve  to  confederate  the  unions  of  a 
single  State. 

National  and  international  unions. — The  national  or  inter- 
national union  is  a  federation  of  local  unions  of  the  same 
trade.  It  is  called  "  a  national  union  "  when  it  does  not 
extend  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States,  an  "  in- 
ternational union  "  when  it  extends  to  another  American 
country.  The  most  numerous  connections  of  the  latter  sort 
are  with  Canada.  I  shall  note  as  the  first  example,  the  asso- 
ciation of  typographers. 

The  International  Typographical  Union  is  one  of  the 
oldest  of  this  class.14  Its  existence  as  a  national  union 
dates  from  the  year  1850,  when  it  was  formed  at  New  York 
by  the  local  unions  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Kentucky,  several  of  which  had  then  been 
in  existence  nearly  twenty  years.  The  formal  organization 
was  effected  at  Cincinnati  in  1852.  The  objects  of  the  asso- 
ciation were  to  establish  "  an  understanding  in  the  regula- 
tion of  scales  of  prices  in  different  localities,"  to  enforce 
"  the  principle  of  limiting  apprentices,"  to  issue  "  traveling 
certificates  "  to  craftsmen  journeying  from  one  place  to  an- 
other in  search  of  work,  to  exclude  disgraced  members  of 
the  profession,  and  gradually  to  collect  enough  money  to 
enable  the  union  to  hold  out  successfully  in  case  of  "  a  con- 
tention for  higher  wages."  In  1869  the  organization  ad- 
mitted a  women's  typographical  union  and  adopted  the  title 
The  International  Typographical  Union  of  North  America; 
since  that  time  at  least  two  of  its  sessions  have  been  held  in 
Canada.  In  1893  the  organization  was  composed  of  332 
local  unions,  almost  all  printers'  unions,  but  some  of  type- 
founders and  binders.  The  total  membership  exceeded 
26,ooo,15  about  nine-tenths  of  the  total  number  of  typograph- 

14  See  The  Labor  Movement,  ch.  vii. 

15  It  was  only  15,000  in  1883.  In  1892  the  exact  figure  was  26,612. 
There  were  3886  male  and  1404  female  printers  in  localities  in 
which  there  were  unions,  who  did  not  belong  to  a  union.     There 

14 


190  The  American  Laborer 

ers  in  those  localities  in  which  there  were  unions.  In  1896 
the  membership  was  nearly  32,000. 

The  International  Union  is  administered  by  a  president, 
who  receives  an  annual  salary  of  $1400,  three  vice-presi- 
dents, a  secretary-treasurer,  and  sixteen  organizers — one  in 
each  of  the  districts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada — 
whose  duties  are  to  secure  new  members,  and  to  aid  with 
advice  the  local  unions  of  their  district.  In  some  States  the 
local  unions  are  grouped  in  State  unions.18 

The  local  union,  which  must  have  at  least  seven  mem- 
bers, is  autonomous  to  a  large  degree.  Its  revenue  is  em- 
ployed in  paying  dues  to  the  International  Union,  in  aid- 
ing other  unions,  in  paying  benefits  to  the  families  of  de- 
ceased members  and  to  those  who  are  sick  or  out  of  work, 
etc.  In  the  fiscal  year  1892-1893  the  International  Union 
collected  about  $126,000,  of  which  $120,000  were  expended 
in  sustaining  strikes  and  lockouts,  supporting  the  Childs- 
Drexel  Home,  assisting  old  and  infirm  printers,  paying  fu- 
neral expenses,  and  in  publishing  the  Typographical  Jour- 
nal.1' 

were  706  women  in  the  union,  and  306  machine-compositors,  of 
which  61  were  not  ordinary  printers.  The  number  of  deaths  in  the 
year  was  433,  about  16.3  per  thousand,  which  seems  rather  high  as 
the  union  is  composed  of  adults. 

[According  to  the  President,  Samuel  B.  Donnelly,  the  member- 
ship was  about  38,000  in  1899.  The  International  Printing  Press- 
men's Union,  with  a  membership  of  about  12,000,  and  the  Interna- 
tional Brotherhood  of  Bookbinders,  with  a  membership  of  8000, 
act  in  conjunction  with  the  International  Typographical  Union  in 
important  matters,  thus  bringing  the  aggregate  membership  to 
nearly  60,000.  Hearings  before  the  Industrial  Commission  on  the  Re- 
lations and  Conditions  of  Capital  and  Labor,  p.  268  et  seq.] 

16  The  International  Union  now  has  six  vice-presidents,  and  an 
additional  organizer  in  the  West  Indies.     [Tr.] 

17  The  receipts  of  the  International  Union  for  the  fiscal  year  1899 
were  $155,718.52:  about  $27,000  balance  from  the  preceding  year, 
$110,000  from  the  per  capita  tax  upon  members,  $8000  from  a  special 
five-cent  assessment,  etc.  The  total  expenditures  amounted  to 
$123,502.80;  $27,000,  in  round  figures,  for  strike  and  lockout  bene- 
fits, $26,000  for  burial  benefits,  $38,000  for  the  Childs-Drexel  Home, 
$10,000  for  the  Typographical  Journal,  etc.     [Tr.] 


Organizations  of  Labor  191 

The  International  Union  holds  an  annual  session  whose 
proceedings,  together  with  other  collateral  papers,  are  pub- 
lished. I  have  before  me  the  report  of  the  fortieth  session 
held  in  the  Drexel  Institute  at  Philadelphia  in  1892.  The 
session  opened  on  the  thirteenth  of  June.  After  the  bene- 
diction had  been  pronounced  by  a  clergyman  and  the  ad- 
dresses of  welcome  from  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia  had  been  read,  delegates 
were  presented  from  317  typographical  unions,  and  the  18 
unions  of  pressmen,18  stereotypers,  binders,  etc.,  which  are 
admitted  to  the  general  assemblies  without  participating, 
however,  in  all  the  benefits  of  the  union.1"  The  committees 
were  then  appointed  by  the  president,  in  accordance  with  a 
procedure  similar  to  that  followed  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States.  Finally  the  work  of  the  Assembly  was  op- 
ened by  an  address  from  the  president,  which  was  followed 
by  the  reading  of  reports  from  organizers  and  delegates. 
The  proceedings  lasted  six  days:  American  workmen,  like 
the  English,  are  very  fond  of  deliberative  assemblies. 

When  a  difference  arises  between  employers  and  a  local 
union,  the  latter  must  notify  the  organizer  of  the  district 
who  hastens  to  the  scene  to  make  an  investigation  and  if 
possible  to  effect  an  amicable  settlement.  If  the  attempt  is 
not  successful,  he  immediately  informs  the  officers  of  the 
International  Union,  who  decide,  after  an  examination, 
whether  a  strike  should  be  authorized.  No  subsidies  are 
granted  unless  this  approval  has  been  given.  Union  Num- 
ber 6  and  a  few  other  important  unions  have  reserved  the 
right  of  ordering  strikes  on  their  own  account. 

The  International  Union  is  very  powerful,  but  not  all- 

18  The  pressmen  and  binders  have  since  formed  independent,  but 
friendly,  international  unions.     [Tr.] 

19  In  1899  the  Typographical  Union  included  429  chartered  locals 
— 355  typographical  unions  and  77  unions  of  various  allied  crafts. 
The  paid-up  membership  was  30,646,  although  the  president  assert- 
ed that  it  was  "  safe  to  estimate  the  entire  number  of  persons  who 
consider  themselves  members  of  the  I.  T.  U."  at  38,000.  Report  of 
the  Proceedings  of  the  Forty-Fifth  Session,  p.  63.     [Tr.] 


192  The  American  Laborer 

powerful.  Probably  nine-tenths  of  the  male  typographers 
belong  to  the  union,  but  a  majority  of  the  female  typograph- 
ers are  still  outside  the  union,  and  in  addition  there  are 
rival  organizations.  The  National  Union  of  Typographers 
of  the  German  Language,  founded  in  1873,  counts  about 
1400  members  and  has  a  larger  budget  than  the  Interna- 
tional Union.20  There  are  also  rival  associations,  such  as 
the  small  union  of  pressmen  which  is  affiliated  with  the 
socialistic  federation. 

The  Cigar-Makers'  International  Union  was  formally  or- 
ganized at  New  York  in  1864  by  the  combination  of  twenty- 
three  local  unions.21  This  association  has  passed  through 
periods  of  great  difficulty — in  the  great  strike  of  1877  more 
than  1000  families  were  dispossessed  of  their  homes  by  the 
sheriff — but  since  that  time  the  union  has  become  very 
strong;  in  1893  it  included  316  local  unions  and  27,100 
members.22  This  organization  authorizes  no  strike  unless  it 
is  approved  by  two-thirds  of  the  local  unions.  As  the  dues 
are  high  (25  cents  per  week,  and  more  than  $1  a  year  for 
death-benefits),  it  can  afford  to  pay  $5  a  week  as  a  sick-ben- 
efit; $3  a  week,  for  six  weeks,  to  strikers;  and  from  $50  to 
$500  at  the  death  of  a  member;  in  addition  it  makes  loans 
to  "  the  traveling  fraternity."  No  member  of  the  union  is 
allowed  to  work  in  a  shop  in  which  non-union  men  are  em- 
ployed and  persons  of  the  white  race  only  are  taken  into  the 
organization.  Successful  struggles  have  been  made  against 
Chinese  and  tenement-house  labor,  which  reduce  the  cost 

20  But,  in  addition  to  the  quotas  of  the  local  unions,  the  national 
union  also  receives  25  cents  a  week  from  each  member.  Moreover, 
the  budget  is  not  always  a  measure  of  the  power  which  a  union 
can  exercise.  Thus,  Union  No.  6  can  greatly  increase  its  revenue 
in  case  of  a  strike  by  levying  extraordinary  assessments. 

21  The  first  union  was  formed  at  Baltimore  in  1851.  In  1854  a 
State  convention  was  held  at  Syracuse  by  the  cigar-makers  of  New- 
York,  in  which  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish  a  uniform  bill  of 
prices.  Many  manufacturers  were  present,  and  took  part  in  the 
deliberations. 

22  See  Labor  and  Capital,  i,  449.  The  membership  numbered  about 
15.000  in  1883  and  30,000  in  1896. 


Organizations  of  Labor  193 

of  manufacture,  and  in  behalf  of  the  eight-hour  day,  which 
seems  to  have  been  obtained  in  the  year  1886. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Painters  and  Decorators  was  formed 
in  Baltimore  in  1887.  The  objects  of  the  organization,  the 
constitution  states,  are  to  elevate  the  workmen,  strengthen 
their  position  by  union,  revive  the  apprentice  system,  culti- 
vate the  feeling  of  fraternity,  aid  members  to  secure  em- 
ployment, reduce  the  hours  of  labor,  and  provide  assistance 
in  cases  of  death  and  infirmity.  About  20,000  workmen,  a 
very  small  percentage  of  the  whole  number  in  the  United 
States,  belonged  to  the  brotherhood  in  1893.23 

I  have  before  me  the  by-laws  of  this  organization,  revised 
by  the  general  assembly  held  in  St.  Louis  in  1892.  At  least 
seven  members  are  necessary  to  form  a  local  union,  which 
secures  certain  supplies  and  a  charter  of  incorporation  from 
the  brotherhood  on  the  payment  of  $10.  There  may  be  sev- 
eral local  unions  in  the  same  city,  and  these  are  competent 
to  form  a  district  union.  To  become  a  member  it  is  neces- 
sary to  be  more  than  twenty-one,  and  in  order  to  obtain  full 
rights,  less  than  fifty  years  of  age;  persons  of  bad  health  or 
character,  and  workmen  who  have  been  expelled  from  an- 
other local  union,  are  not  admitted.  Merchants  and  em- 
ployers may  be  admitted  if  they  do  not  belong  to  another 
association,  and  during  the  last  year  of  his  term  an  appren- 
tice may  participate  in  the  exercises,  although  he  has  not 
the  right  of  debate.  Every  application  for  admission  is  ex- 
amined by  a  committee  of  three  members  and  the  applicant 
is  admitted  if  two-thirds  of  the  votes  cast  are  in  his  favor. 
The  initiation  fee  is  $2,  and  the  minimum  dues  are  35  cents 
a  month,  of  which  10  cents  goes  to  the  brotherhood.  Every 
member  must  be  provided  with  a  receipt  for  his  monthly 
dues,  signed  by  the  secretary,  and  a  card  bearing  his  name, 

23  There  are  also  other  organizations  in  this  trade.  Quarrels 
have  occurred  more  than  once  between  union  and  non-union  work- 
men. In  the  winter  of  1892-1893  certain  members  of  the  brother- 
hood in  Chicago  attacked  a  body  of  workmen  who  were  not  mem- 
bers of  the  union,  and  killed  two  of  them. 


194  The  American  Laborer 

the  date  of  his  election  and  his  entrance  number.  In  cases 
of  sickness  and  accident  the  benefit  is  fixed  and  paid  by  the 
local  union;  in  case  of  death  or  permanent  disability  it  va- 
ries, according  to  the  length  of  membership,  from  $50  to 
$150,  and  on  the  death  of  the  wife  of  a  member,  from  $25 
to  $50. 

The  brotherhood  holds  a  general  assembly  every  two 
years.  The  officers  consist  of  a  president,  a  vice-president, 
a  secretary-treasurer,  and  an  executive  council.  When  a 
difference  with  an  employer  arises,  the  case  is  first  referred 
to  the  president  of  the  local  union  involved,  who  appoints 
a  committee  of  arbitration  to  confer  with  the  employer  or 
employers.  If  an  agreement  is  not  reached  in  this  way,  and 
the  union  decides,  by  secret  ballot  and  a  two-thirds  ma- 
jority, that  the  workmen  should  be  sustained,  the  president 
sends  a  report  to  the  executive  council  of  the  brotherhood, 
which  in  turn  decides  whether  a  strike  shall  be  declared.  It 
is  illegal  to  maintain  more  than  one  strike  at  a  time. 

When  a  strike  is  regularly  declared  the  executive  council 
fixes  the  contribution  to  be  made  by  the  local  unions,  and 
orders  them,  under  penalty  of  expulsion,  to  send  this  quota 
each  week.  From  the  fund  thus  created  $5  per  week  is 
sent  to  each  member  of  the  striking  union.  By  means  of 
special  levies  the  brotherhood  has  already  amassed  a  "  pro- 
tective fund "  reserved  for  extraordinary  emergencies. 
Any  member  of  a  union  who  works  at  his  trade  while  the 
union  is  out  on  a  regular  strike,  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  not 
less  than  $5. 

The  Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Work- 
ers, founded  in  1876,  has  grouped  in  a  very  strong  union  the 
organizations  in  these  trades  which  existed  prior  to  that 
year.  In  1892  the  association  included  292  lodges  and 
45,000  members."  The  supreme  authority  rests  in  the  cen- 
tral organization,  and  no  independent  lodge  is  admitted. 

Every  subordinate  lodge  names  a  number  of  representa- 

"42,000  in  1883;  40,000  in  1896.     The  central  office  is  at  Pittsburg. 


Organizations  of  Labor  195 

tives  proportional  to  its  membership.  Every  third  month 
the  president  gives  the  pass-word,  which  it  is  necessary  to 
have,  in  addition  to  the  card,  in  order  to  enter  a  meeting  of 
the  lodge.  With  these  exceptions  there  is  nothing  secret  in 
the  association.  A  subordinate  lodge  cannot  declare  a 
strike,  but  when  the  executive  committee  of  a  district  au- 
thorizes a  strike  in  one  shop  the  workmen  in  all  other  shops 
of  the  district  must  stop  work.  "  In  Union  there  is 
strength,"  reads  the  declaration  of  principles  of  the  associa- 
tion. "Single  handed,  we  can  accomplish  nothing;  but, 
united,  there  is  no  power  of  wrong  we  may  not  openly  defy. 
....  Nor  can  injustice  be  done  to  any  one;  no  undue  ad- 
vantage can  be  taken  of  our  employers.  There  is  not,  there 
cannot  be,  any  good  reason  why  they  should  not  pay  us  a 
fair  price  for  our  labor.  If  the  profits  of  their  business  are 
not  sufficient  to  remunerate  them  for  their  trouble  of  doing 
business,  let  the  consumers  make  the  balance." 2 

It  is  much  easier  to  dictate  terms  to  a  small  manufacturer 
or  an  unorganized  body  of  builders  than  to  the  immense 
establishments  with  which  this  association  has  to  deal,  and 
at  times  the  struggle  has  been  maintained  only  with  the 
greatest  difficulty;  not  a  strike  was  held  between  1882  and 
1892,  the  year  in  which  the  Homestead  strike  was  declared. 
Six  dollars  a  week  are  allowed  to  workmen  who  have  been 
discharged  for  connection  with  a  union,  and  four  dollars  a 
week  to  strikers,  from  the  third  to  the  fifteenth  week. 
Though  the  efforts  of  a  mixed  committee  of  employers  and 
workmen  there  has  been  established  a  piece-rate  scale  of 
wages  which  has  been  revised  several  times  by  common  con- 
sent.26 The  association  concentrates  its  activities  upon  the 
relationship  between  employers  and  workmen;  its  pays  no 
sick-  or  death-benefits. 

25 "  The  Associated  Iron  and  Steel  Workers,"  by  Carroll  D. 
Wright.     Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  July,  1893. 

26  Col.  Wright,  in  the  article  cited,  quotes  a  scale  of  prices  adopt- 
ed in  1865  by  the  iron-boilers  and  their  employers,  which  is  per- 
haps the  earliest  agreement  of  this  kind  in  the  United  States. 


196  The  American  Laborer 

The  workmen  affiliated  with  a  union  usually  obey  the  or- 
ders of  their  leaders  without  demur  and  at  the  signal  quit 
work  and  strike.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  trade- 
unionism  in  America  has  escaped  the  democratic  spirit 
which  animates  the  American  people:  there  are  unions 
which  employ  a  certain  form  of  referendum  when  they  have 
to  decide  an  important  question.  Mr.  J.  W.  Sullivan " 
mentions  ten  national  or  international  unions  which  have 
adopted  this  method,  among  which  are  included  the  Typo- 
graphical Union,  the  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners 
and  the  Cigar-Makers'  Union.  The  constitution  of  the 
United  Garment-Cutters'  Association  of  America  provides 
that  the  general  executive  must  submit  to  a  vote  of  the  local 
unions,  all  questions  in  which  this  procedure  is  demanded. 
The  Cigar-Makers'  Union  also  have  a  similar  provision  in 
their  constitution,  adopted  in  1877  when  the  constitution 
was  revised.  This  union  has  gradually  extended  the  refer- 
endum until  at  present  it  submits  to  a  vote  of  the  separate 
unions  all  amendments,  all  executive  orders,  and  the  reso- 
lutions passed  by  the  conventions.  At  the  Indianapolis 
convention  of  1891,  147  motions  were  adopted  in  Septem- 
ber, printed  in  the  official  journal,  and  voted  upon  by  the 
local  unions  in  October. 

The  Knights  of  Labor. — From  its  very  beginning  this  or- 
ganization has  been  essentially  a  secret  society.  It  was 
founded  at  Philadelphia  in  1870  by  seven  members  of  a  gar- 
ment-cutters' union  which  had  finally  dissolved  after  strug- 
gling along  for  seven  years,  and  had  been  unsuccessful, 
the  men  said,  because  their  employers  had  always  managed 
to  learn  their  plans.  The  leading  spirit  of  the  new  organiza- 
tion was  Uriah  S.  Stephens,  a  freemason,  who  had  become 
convinced  that  in  order  to  enfranchise  labor  it  would  be 
necessary  to  form  a  universal  union  of  laborers.  "  And 
while  the  toiler  is  thus  engaged  in  creating  the  world's 

"Direct  Legislation  by  the  Citizenship  through  the  Initiative  and  Ref- 
erendum. 1893,  p.  87. 


Organizations  of  Labor  197 

value  "  (an  erroneous  statement  borrowed  from  Karl  Marx), 
"  how  fares  his  own  interest  and  well-being?  We  answer, 
'  Badly,'  "  (a  proposition  that  experience  contradicts).  "  The 
hours  of  labor  are  too  long  and  should  be  shortened.  .  .  . 
There  should  be  a  greater  participation  in  the  profits  of  labor 
by  the  industrious  and  intelligent  laborer  "  (an  end  that  in 
certain  cases  can  be  attained).28 

In  the  organization  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  the  Masonic 
order  served  as  the  model.  Members  were  initiated  with 
mysterious  rites,  including  an  oath  upon  the  Bible,  and 
even  the  name  of  the  order  was  kept  secret,  the  public  know- 
ing it  for  a  long  time  as  the  "  Five  Stars."  The  order  is 
composed  of  lodges,  called  "  assemblies,"  which  are  desig- 
nated by  numbers.  These  assemblies  are  composed  entirely 
of  workmen,  but  there  is  no  differentiation  of  trades;  work- 
men of  all  kinds  are  admitted.  There  are  two  classes  of 
assemblies:  the  local  assemblies  and  the  superior  group 
known  as  State  or  district  assemblies.  The  ultimate  au- 
thority is  vested  in  a  General  Master  Workman  assisted  by 
a  dozen  other  officers.  At  least  one  general  assembly  must 
be  held  every  year. 

At  the  outset  the  order  was  opposed  by  the  reorganized 
association  of  garment-cutters,  whose  members  called  the 
Knights  of  Labor  the  "  Teapot  Society,"  because  at  their 


28  From  the  address  of  Mr.  Stephens  at  the  Assembly  of  1871. 
For  the  origin  and  history  of  this  society  see  chapter  xv  of  The 
Labor  Movement,  written  by  Mr.  McNeill  who  was  then  the  secre- 
tary-treasurer of  D.  A.  30,  Knights  of  Labor.  Speaking  of  the 
meeting  of  December  23,  1869,  when  the  seven  founders  took  the 
oath  of  obligation,  Mr.  McNeill  says,  in  the  tone  of  an  apostle: 
"  And  from  this  humble  beginning  in  the  house  of  a  garment-cut- 
ter, within  sound  of  the  old  '  Liberty  Bell '  that  rang  out  the  war 
against  the  monarchal  system  of  government,  and  proclaimed  lib- 
erty to  the  people,  there  went  forth  a  new  declaration  of  war 
against  the  monarchal  system  of  labor,  and  the  proclamation  of  a 
new  era  of  liberty,  of  peace  and  plenty. 

"  Here,  in  this  house,  these  seven  men  founded  an  organization 
in  whose  power  now  rests,  perhaps,  the  destinies  of  the  Republic," 
P-  399- 


198  The  American  Laborer 

mysterious  meetings  on  Thursday  evenings  the  Knights 
drank  nothing  but  tea.  The  plan  of  the  order  was  to  ex- 
tend itself  over  the  whole  country  by  forming  local  assem- 
blies everywhere;  the  lodge  formed  by  the  founders  was 
known  as  Assembly  No.  I.  Into  this  a  number  of  plumb- 
ers, paper-hangers,  and  painters  had  been  admitted,  but  the 
first  outside  lodge,  Assembly  No.  2,  was  not  formed  until 
1872.  By  the  end  of  that  year,  however,  twenty  assemblies 
had  been  organized  in  Philadelphia.  The  crisis  of  1873  was 
not  favorable  to  labor-organizations,  but  by  this  time  the 
Knights  had  acquired  a  certain  prestige  from  their  myste- 
rious ceremonies.  After  several  years  of  tentative  organi- 
zation a  general  administrative  committee  was  appointed, 
and  soon  after  provision  was  made  for  the  formation  of  dis- 
trict assemblies,  which  were  thought  to  be  necessary  to  ob- 
tain the  proper  cooperation  between  the  local  assemblies. 
At  least  five  local  unions  were  necessary  to  form  a  district 
assembly.  In  1878  the  general  assembly  of  the  order  was 
formed,  and  afterwards,  provision  was  made  for  State  as- 
semblies to  be  composed  of  at  least  ten  mixed  local  assem- 
blies. 

Thanks  to  its  air  of  mystery  which  is  so  attractive  to  the 
multitude,  and  the  dazzling  prospects  which  were  held  out 
to  laborers,  the  order  succeeded  in  attracting  an  enormous 
number  of  members.  In  1878  at  the  first  general  assembly 
held  at  Reading,  a  declaration  of  principles  and  a  constitu- 
tion were  adopted  and  the  secrecy  which  had  so  long  en- 
veloped the  order  was  formally  discarded.  Influenced 
largely  by  this  action,  the  founder  and  first  Grand  Master 
Workman,  Uriah  S.  Stephens,  resigned  his  position  in  1879 
and  was  succeeded  by  T.  V.  Powderly,  a  mechanical  en- 
gineer. 

In  the  declaration  of  principles  which  precedes  the  con- 
stitution the  order  declares  that:  "The  alarming  develop- 
ment and  aggressiveness  of  great  capitalists  and  corpora- 
tions, unless  checked,  will  inevitably  lead  to  the  pauperiza- 
tion and  hopeless  degradation  of  the  toiling  masses."     One 


Organizations  of  Labor  199 

of  their  aims,  the  declaration  continued,  was  "  to  secure 
to  the  workers  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  wealth  they  create, 
sufficient  leisure  in  which  to  develop  their  intellectual, 
moral,  and  social  faculties,  all  of  the  benefits,  recreation,  and 
pleasures  of  association,"  and  that  this  was  to  be  accom- 
plished "  only  by  the  united  efforts  of  those  who  obey  the 
divine  injunction,  '  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat 
bread.'  '  Nevertheless,  by  means  of  a  special  fund,  and  as 
a  first  step  toward  legal  reforms,  the  order  supported  many 
strikes  between  1878  and  1883.  It  demanded  among 
other  reforms,  the  referendum  for  all  laws,  the  taxation 
at  full  value  of  all  lands  held  for  speculative  purposes, 
legislation  protecting  the  health  and  conditions  of  labor  of 
factory  hands,  limitation  of  the  hours  of  labor  of  children, 
payment  of  wages  by  the  week  and  in  lawful  money,  the 
emission  of  paper  money  in  the  quantities  determined  by  the 
needs  of  the  circulation,  prohibition  of  the  importation  of 
contract-labor,  and  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  arbi- 
tration. This  was  indeed  a  platform:  a  patchwork  of  pro- 
posed laws,  good,  bad  and  indifferent. 

The  General  Master  Workman  gave  people  to  under- 
stand that  these  demands  would  be  fulfilled  if  the  working- 
men  were  strong  enough  to  impose  their  will  by  law  and, 
he  claimed,  they  would  be  strong  enough  so  to  do  if  they 
were  all  united  and  obedient  to  their  leaders.  The  most 
perfect  form  of  government,  the  order  teaches,  is  that  in 
which  a  wrong  to  one  individual  becomes  the  affair  of  afl. 

Having  divested  itself  of  many  of  the  forms  of  secrecy, 
the  order  assumed  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Powderlv  a 
more  militant  aspect;  it  published  an  official  weekly — The 
Journal  of  the  Knights  of  Labor — and  succeeded  in  inducing 
the  New  York  Assembly  of  1892  to  sanction  the  use  of 
strikes,  although  that  body  had  previously  condemned  the 
principle.  The  order  grew  apace.  In  1886  it  numbered 
9000  assemblies,  local,  district  and  State,  and  the  member- 
ship, it  was  claimed,  reached  730,000.  In  one  investigation 
the  Grand  Master  estimated  the  membership  at  500,000,  but 


200  The  American  Laborer 

report  credited  the  order  with  many  more,  some  estimates 
of  the  membership  reaching  5,000,000. 

The  order  originally  had  great  faith  in  cooperation  as  a 
means  of  demolishing  the  wage-system  and  made  great 
efforts  to  establish  cooperative  associations  of  consumers 
and  producers,  founding  72  such  societies  in  1886.  It  had 
also  established,  even  built  in  some  instances,  cooperative 
stores  for  the  sale  of  its  products;  charged  the  local  assem- 
blies to  see  to  it  that  members  dealt  with  them;  and  regu- 
lated the  distribution  of  the  profits:  a  third  to  the  general 
treasury,  a  third  to  the  establishments  themselves,  and  a 
third  to  their  employees.30  At  one  of  the  meetings  held  at 
the  Paris  exposition  of  1889,  the  representative  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor  asserted  that  the  number  of  cooperators 
exceeded  30,000  and  that  the  monthly  sales  reached  $500,- 
000.  But  even  at  this  time  the  order  had  begun  to  wane; 
cooperation  had  failed  to  transform  the  lot  of  the  laborer, 
and  his  faith  was  shaken. 

The  order  tried  to  impose  its  conditions  upon  employers 
by  placing  its  label  or  trade-mark,  as  a  recommendation, 
upon  goods  manufactured  in  "  union  shops,"  and  by  boy- 
cotting those  who  resisted.  Its  orders  were  issued  in  the 
journal  and  the  workmen  were  there  exhorted  to  make 
themselves  master  by  the  ballot.  But  the  leaders  having  in- 
sisted upon  going  into  politics,  this  spirit  of  domination  re- 
ceived a  great  set-back  and  became  a  source  of  discredit. 

On  the  other  hand  the  rapid  extension  of  the  order  had 
introduced  elements  of  insubordination,  and  many  strikes 
were  declared  by  local  assemblies  without  the  approval  of 
the  executive  board  by  which  missionaries  were  continually 
sent  out  to  preach  the  gospel  of  obedience.     General  Master 

3Q  See  Congrcs  International  des  Societes  Cooperatives.  Sept.,  1889. 
These  proportions  are  not  invariable.  A  cooperative  shoe-factory 
started  by  the  Knights  in  Duluth  in  1885  (shares  $5,  payable  in 
five  monthly  installments)  gave  40  per  cent  to  the  capital,  40  to 
the  labor,  10  to  salesmen  who  owned  stock,  5  to  salesmen  who 
owned  no  stock,  and  5  per  cent  to  a  school.  See  the  report  of  M. 
Bruwaert  in  the  Rccueil  de  Rapports  sur  les  Conditions  du  Travail. 


Organizations  of  Labor  201 

Workman  Powderly,  who  seems  personally  to  have  had 
little  faith  in  strikes,  tried  to  discourage  them,  counselled 
arbitration,  and  granted  subsidies  only  to  those  strikes 
which  had  been  officially  authorized.  On  their  side  the 
local  assemblies  claimed  that  the  general  officers  were  too 
far  from  the  scene  and  could  not  decide  for  every  trade, 
whether  or  not  a  strike  was  expedient.  Many  members 
held  that  local  assemblies  composed  of  workmen  in  dif- 
ferent trades  were  ineffectual,  and  the  system  of  "  mixed 
assemblies  "  became  unpopular. 

At  the  beginning  the  old  secret  order  had  recruited  its 
membership  without  regard  to  trade  distinctions,  and  the 
assemblies  were  really  "  mixed."  But  later,  when  it  became 
evident  that  this  type  of  organization  was  faulty,  "  trades 
assemblies "  had  been  formed,  which  drew  their  members 
largely  from  non-unionists  and  thus  came  in  direct  compe- 
tition with  the  existing  trade-unions.  This  was  a  prime 
source  of  antagonism,  and  a  stumbling-block  in  the  path  of 
the  order.  The  trade-assemblies  received  their  orders  from 
a  superior  authority,  and  upon  questions  of  wages,  strikes, 
etc.,  these  orders  did  not  always  harmonize  with  the  deci- 
sions of  the  trades-unions  who  governed  themselves  and  had 
no  thought  of  relinquishing  their  autonomy.  The  order  set 
itself  the  task  of  inducing  the  trades-unions,  by  persuasion 
or  by  violence,  to  fuse  their  individuality  in  the  grand  free- 
masonry of  labor.     A  conflict  was  inevitable. 

At  the  Richmond  session  of  the  general  assembly  held  in 
1886,  the  discussion  of  the  relations  to  be  established  with 
the  trades-unions  was  made  the  order  of  the  day,  and  the 
executive  board  was  disposed  to  conciliate  the  unions  by 
certain  concessions.  "  We  recognize,"  said  a  circular  letter 
recommended  to  the  general  assembly  by  a  committee  on 
legislation,  "  the  service  rendered  to  humanity  and  to  the 
cause  of  labor  by  trade-union  organizations;  but  believe 
that  the  time  has  come,  or  is  fast  approaching,  when 
all  who  earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow  shall 
be  enrolled  under  one  general  head,  as  we  are  controlled  by 


202  The  American  Laborer 

one  common  law — the  law  of  our  necessities;  and  we  will 
gladly  welcome  to  our  ranks,  or  to  protection  under  our 
banner,  any  organization  requesting  admission.  And  to 
such  organizations  as  believe  that  their  craftsmen  are  better 
protected  under  their  present  form  of  government,  we 
pledge  ourselves,  as  members  of  the  great  Army  of  Labor, 
to  cooperate  with  them  in  every  honorable  effort  to  achieve 
the  success  which  we  are  unitedly  organized  to  obtain." 
But  the  general  assembly  was  less  conciliatory;31  after  a 
stormy  and  violent  debate  it  voted  down  the  motion  and 
virtually  declared  war  against  independent  unions,  which 
the  Knights  accused  of  selfishness  and  impotence,  because 
the  strike,  their  principal  weapon,  could  lead  to  nothing  but 
misery.  The  only  thing  to  do,  the  General  Master  declared, 
was  to  go  into  politics,  and  this  he  thought  could  be  done 
with  success.  But  their  political  ventures  have  not  been 
successful:  certain  declarations  of  Cardinal  Gibbons  and 
other  American  prelates  caused  the  General  Master  to  be 
suspected,  quite  inconsequently,  of  having  joined  forces 
with  the  Catholic  clergy,  and  although  this  was  a  matter  of 
secondary  importance  in  the  minds  of  the  workingmen,  the 
influence  of  the  General  Master  was  weakened. 

The  domineering  conduct  of  the  Knights  has  brought  on 
quarrels  with  a  great  number  of  unions.32  For  example,  the 
glass-cutters'  union  was  about  to  amalgamate  with  the  order 
in  1886,  but  suddenly  changed  its  purpose  when  it  found 
that  the  Knights  were  taking  into  their  organization  glass- 
cutters  who  had  not  paid  their  dues  in  the  union.33 

31  The  history  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  though  recent,  is  full  of 
obscurities,  because  each  historian,  presenting  it  from  his  peculiar 
point  of  view,  has  left  lacunae  which  at  times  are  intentional. 
Cf.  The  Labor  Movement,  ch.  xv. 

32  In  1886  the  assembly  at  Troy,  N.  Y.  struck  to  obtain  the  dis- 
charge of  certain  carpenters  who  belonged  to  the  Brotherhood  of 
Carpenters  and  Joiners. 

33  Rapports  dc  la  delegation  ouvricre,  p.  705.  The  Federation  of 
Labor  has  made  similar  charges  more  than  once.  Thus,  an  address 
published  by  the  Federation  in  1889  containing  the  following  stric- 


Organizations  of  Labor  203 

The  furniture-workers  charge  the  Knights  with  having 
sent  men  to  take  their  places  at  Pullman,34  and  the  same 
charge  was  made  in  1892  by  the  coopers'  union  of  New  Or- 
leans.35 The  shoemakers  also  attribute  the  failure  of  one  of 
their  strikes  to  the  hostile  intervention  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor.36  The  quarrels  between  the  garment-cutters  and  the 
makers  of  ready-made  clothing,  the  first  of  which  belong  to 
the  order  and  the  other  to  a  union,  date  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  still  continue.  In 
consequence  of  these  conflicts  and  the  failure  of  the  glowing 
promises  made  by  the  leaders,  the  membership  of  the  order, 
which  was  so  large  in  1886,  fell  in  1894  to  65,000  according 
to  one  authority,  or  150,000  according  to  another.  The 
order  now  has  200,000  members,  if  we  may  accept  the  state- 
ment furnished  for  publication  in  several  almanacs.  As  a 
result  of  the  dissensions  which  have  divided  the  members, 
a  new  society  was  formed  at  Columbus  in  1895  under  the 
name  of  "  The  Independent  Knights  of  Labor."  This  so- 
ciety also  has  a  "  General  Master  Workman." 

In  July,  1893,  when  Mr.  Powderly  made  known  his  in- 
tention to  resign  the  leadership,  the  budget  showed  a  deficit 
and  it  had  become  necessary  to  draw  upon  the  reserve.  Mr. 
Powderly  gave  way  to  Mr.  Sovereign  and  the  socialistic  ele- 
ment applauded  the  change.  What  will  be  the  future  of  the 
order  under  its  new  management?  Secret  societies  which 
promise  to  put  an  end  to  iniquity  and  bring  about  happiness 
in  the  near  future,  have  always  exercised  a  powerful  fascina- 
tion on  the  masses. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor. — This  organization  has 
fallen  heir  to  a  large  part  of  the  membership  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor.  In  addition  to  the  latter  organization  several 
federations  of  labor  were  organized  between  1866  and  1872, 


ture:  "Too  often  the  national  trade  has  been  made  the  dumping 
ground  for  men  who  have  been  branded  as  unfair  by  the  trade 
unions." 

34  Ibid.,  p.  714.  35  Mid.,  p.  728. 

36  Official  Book  of  the  Am.  Fed.  of  Labor,  Dec,  1892. 


204  The  American  Laborer 

among  them  being  the  National  Labor  Union,  which  disap- 
peared during  the  crisis  of  1873,  and  the  Federation  of  Or- 
ganized Trades  and  Labor  Unions  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  This  federation  originated  in  a  grand  congress 
held  in  1881  at  Pittsburg,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  which  was 
to  protest  against  the  despotism  of  the  Knights  of  Labor. 
In  a  manifesto  published  in  1882  the  federation  declared  for 
the  autonomy  of  each  trade-union,  and  asserted  that  it  would 
confine  itself  to  the  laborer  in  his  capacity  of  workman, 
without  demanding  of  him  a  profession  of  religious  or  po- 
litical faith.  An  unsuccessful  effort  was  made  to  come  to 
an  understanding  with  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  in  the 
contest  which  followed,  the  Federation  succumbed.  The 
formal  dissolution  took  place  at  a  convention  held  at  Co- 
lumbus in  1886.  But  it  was  succeeded  by  the  Federation  of 
Labor  which  was  organized  at  the  same  meeting.37 

To  encourage  the  formation  of  local  unions  and  the  com- 
bination of  these  into  State  and  municipal  groups  with  the 
object  of  securing  favorable  legislation;  to  establish  and 
stimulate  the  development  of  national  and  international 
unions  based  upon  a  recognition  of  the  autonomy  of  each 
trade;  to  maintain  newspapers  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
American  labor:  such  was  the  programme  of  the  new  fed- 
eration; its  motto,  Labor  omnia  vincit.  The  plan  has  been 
to  unite  the  unions  into  a  harmonious  whole  without  at- 
tempting to  dominate  them  or  to  violate  their  individual 
traditions  and  creeds.83  In  accordance  with  this  plan  the 
leaders  have  endeavored  to  bring  under  their  direction  all 
the  labor-unions  of  America,  to  found  unions  in  unorgan- 
ized trades,  and  to  influence  legislation  and  public  opinion 
by  the  press  and  by  public  meetings.     In  particular,  they 

37  For  the  history  of  the  Federation  of  Labor,  see  the  Official 
Book  of  the  Amer.  Fed.  of  Labor;  the  Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Annual  Convention;  Trade  Unions,  their  Origin  and  Objects,  Influence 
and  Efficacy,  and  other  pamphlets  published  by  the  Federation. 

38  Trade  Unions,  their  Origin  and  Objects,  Influence  and  Efficacy,  by 
W.  Trant,  p.  41. 


Organizations  of  Labor  205 

have  undertaken  the  mission  of  advancing  civilization  "  by 
procuring  for  laborers  a  reduction  in  the  hours  of  labor." 
Under  the  caption  "  Unionists  Federate,"  the  American  Fed- 
erationist  of  October,  1894,  says:  "On  every  hand  we  see 
the  capitalist  class,  the  corporate  and  moneyed  interests  con- 
centrating their  efforts  for  the  purpose  of  despoiling  our 
people  of  their  rights,  encroaching  upon  our  liberties  and 
endeavoring  to  force  the  workers  down  in  the  social,  eco- 
nomic and  political  scale.  ...  In  view  of  these  circum- 
stances it  must  impress  itself  upon  your  minds,  as  it  has 
upon  ours,  that  the  toiling  masses,  the  wealth  producers  of 
the  country,  should  unite  for  their  common  advancement." 

The  entrance  fee  for  a  union  is  $5,  to  which  is  added  $5 
for  supplies.  The  dues  of  an  independent  "  local  "  are  one 
cent  a  month  for  each  member;  of  national  and  international 
unions,  one-quarter  of  a  cent  a  month  for  each  member;  and 
of  councils  in  the  cities,  $25  a  year.  Seven  members,  male 
or  female,  are  sufficient  to  form  a  union,  and  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  they  should  be  all  of  the  same  occupation.  During 
strikes  and  lockouts  the  union  affected  is  entitled  to  receive 
a  subsidy,  after  its  own  funds  have  been  exhausted,  which 
is  secured  by  levying  a  tax  of  two  cents  or  more  a  week 
upon  each  member  of  the  federation.  This  subsidy  is  con- 
tinued for  five  weeks  and  may  be  prolonged  by  special  vote. 

The  officers  of  the  federation,  who  together  form  the  ex- 
ecutive council,  consist  of  a  president,  three  vice-presidents, 
a  secretary  and  a  treasurer:  they  are  elected  for  one  year  by 
the  convention.  These  conventions,  or  "  general  assem- 
blies," are  held  each  year  on  the  second  Monday  of  Decem- 
ber at  a  place  selected  by  the  preceding  assembly.  The  as- 
semblies are  made  up  of  delegates  sent  by  the  affiliated 
unions:  from  each  union  not  embraced  in  a  national  or- 
ganization one  delegate;  from  national  and  international 
unions,  one  delegate  for  each  4000  members,  although  every 
such  union  is  entitled  to  at  least  one  delegate.  From  the 
members  of  the  convention  the  president  selects  ten  com- 
mittees which  consider  the  questions  and  resolutions  pre- 
15 


206  The  American  Laborer 

sented  by  the  delegates,  and  report  their  conclusions  to  the 
general  assembly. 

Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  success  has 
been  rapid.  The  official  book  of  the  federation  published 
at  the  twelfth  general  assembly,  December,  1892,  reports  79 
affiliated  national  or  international  unions,  comprehending 
7031  local  unions  and  652,300  members:  in  addition  there 
were  1500  local  unions  not  embraced  in  any  national  or  in- 
ternational organization.89  In  the  succeeding  assembly  held 
at  Chicago  in  1893  more  than  800,000  workmen  were  repre- 
sented. The  federation  has  held  thousands  of  meetings  in 
favor  of  the  eight-hour  day,  scattered  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  pamphlets,  worked  for  the  repeal  of  laws  condemning 
combinations  of  workmen,  and  led  the  affiliated  trades  one 
after  another  into  open  revolt.  In  1890,  46,000  carpenters 
representing  organizations  in  137  cities,  entered  into  a  cam- 
paign under  its  leadership  for  a  reduction  of  the  hours  of 
labor.     And  they  won  their  fight. 

The  federation  professes  neutrality  in  political  matters  and 
pretends  to  confine  its  operations  to  the  field  of  labor  inter- 
ests. In  accordance  with  this  policy  admission  was  refused 
to  the  central  federation  of  labor  of  New  York  because  the 
latter  included  a  socialistic  section. 

Efforts  have  been  made  by  the  federation  to  effect  an  un- 
derstanding with  the  Knights  of  Labor.  But  the  stand- 
points of  the  organizations  are  too  antagonistic.  In  1882 
the  federation  distributed  a  circular  announcing  that  the 
non-secret  trades-unions  would  be  able  to  march  side  by 
side  with  the  Knights  of  Labor,  if  the  latter  did  not  contain 
over-ambitious  men  who  destroyed  existing  unions  in  order 

89  "  Tribune  Almanac,"  1895,  p.  226.  About  the  same  membership 
was  claimed  in  1896,  i.  e..  7000  unions  and  more  than  650,000  mem- 
bers. [According  to  President  Gompers'  report  for  1898  there 
were  in  direct  affiliation  with  the  Federation  of  Labor  for  that 
year  67  national  and  international  unions  with  10,500  local  unions 
attached;  10  State  federations;  82  city  central  labor-unions  and 
trades-assemblies:  315  local  unions  which  belonged  to  no  national 
organization;  and  109  federal  labor-unions.] 


Organizations  of  Labor  '.'<>; 

to  serve  their  own  personal  ends.  This  was  not  calculated 
to  conciliate  the  Knights,  and  as  we  have  seen,  the  latter 
repulsed  the  advances  made  by  the  federation  in  1886. 

In  the  latter  year  some  of  the  unions  complained  that 
the  Knights  of  Labor  had  recruited  assemblies  in  trades 
which  were  already  organized,  and  that  these  assemblies  had 
imitated  their  labels.  The  Knights  responded  by  expelling 
the  cigar-makers'  union,  which  had  affiliated  with  the  fed- 
eration. But  as  we  have  seen,  they  were  unable  to  give  the 
workingman  all  they  had  led  him  to  expect,  and  in  the  con- 
test which  ensued,  the  federation  came  out  ahead. 

At  the  Philadelphia  convention  of  1889  the  federation 
affirmed  the  absolute  right  of  trades-unions  to  occupy  the 
legitimate  field  of  "  trade-unionism,"  declared  that  the 
Knights  of  Labor  ought  to  revoke  the  charters  of  the 
"  trades-assemblies,"  and  promised,  if  this  condition  were 
complied  with,  to  invite  the  members  of  these  unions  to  affil- 
iate themselves  with  the  mixed  assemblies  of  the  Knights. 
The  latter  refused  to  assent,  and  the  war  was  continued. 
The  federation  then  accused  the  Knights  of  attempting  to 
subvert  the  movement  of  trade-unionism,  denounced  their 
policy  as  a  mask  and  their  leaders  as  unscrupulous  men  who 
sought  to  use  the  workingmen  as  instruments  of  their  per- 
sonal ambitions.40  In  return  the  federation  was  violently 
attacked  by  the  socialistic  press:  it  was  a  tool  of  the  employ- 
ers, the  socialistic  papers  said,  whose  purpose  was  to  hood- 
wink the  workingman  by  a  sham  attack  on  the  tyranny  of 
capital. 

"  One  of  the  greatest  results  of  unionism."  a  publica- 
tion of  the  federation  states.  "  lias  been,  and  still  is,  the 
elevation  of  wages  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  the 
reduction  of  the  amount  of  work  done  for  a  given  wage. 
This  is  the  principal  object  of  the  federation.  Working- 
men  who  have  once  experienced  the  pleasures  of  prosperity 


44  See  the  publication  of  the  federation  entitled:     Relation  of  the 
Trade  Unions  to  the  Knights  of  Labor. 


208  The  American  Laborer 

will  not  willingly  return  to  their  former  poverty."41  This 
feeling  is  very  natural,  but  after  having  promised  to  improve 
the  condition  of  workingmen  in  this  respect,  the  federation 
now  finds  the  path  obstructed  by  economic  difficulties  which 
their  publications  wrongly  persist  in  describing  as  trifling. 
For  some  years  these  difficulties  have  been  growing  in  all 
lines  of  production,  and  the  consequent  lack  of  success  has 
engendered  doubts  and  turned  the  energy  of  those  who  are 
still  hopeful,  into  other  directions.  In  the  election  of  1893 
President  Gompers  had  a  majority  of  only  two  votes;  in  the 
following  year  he  was  defeated,  and  it  was  not  until  De- 
cember 14,  1895,  that  he  was  again  made  president. 

Statistical  summary. — Col.  Wright  estimates  the  number 
of  unionists  in  the  United  States  at  a  little  less  than 
1,500,000:  800,000  members  of  the  three  great  federations — 
the  Knights  of  Labor,  the  Federation  of  Labor,  and  the 
American  Railway  Union — plus  600,000  representing  the 
members  of  unions  not  affiliated  with  the  organizations 
named.  This  is  about  30  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of 
workmen  enumerated  in  the  census  of  1890,  although  the 
census  figures  include  the  workmen  of  small  towns  and  vil- 
lages. As  the  labor-organizations  are  recruited  almost  ex- 
clusively in  the  cities,  and  from  skilled  labor,  it  seems  that 
the  organizations  possess  a  majority  of  the  workingmen  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  in  the 
LTnited  States  as  in  France  the  number  of  members  who 
take  an  active  part  and  pay  their  dues  regularly  is  percept- 
ibly smaller  than  the  number  claimed  by  the  organizations 
which  like  to  appear  important  in  order  to  become  im- 
portant." 

"  See  Delegation  des  Syndicats  Ouvricrs  de  la  V Me  de  Paris  a  V Expo- 
sition de  Chicago,  p.  119. 

42  In  1894  an  investigation  showed  58  unions  in  New  Hampshire, 
with  a  total  membership  of  3294  (2980  men.  314  women).  This  was 
but  a  small  minority  of  the  71,408  persons  engaged  in  gainful  occu- 
pations who  were  recorded  in  the  census  of  1890,  and  the  propor- 
tional amount  was  much  below  the  average  for  the  whole  United 
States.     In  the  State  of  New  York,  in  which  the  returns  are  made 


Organizations  of  Labor  209 

The  budget. — After  this  historical  sketch  it  seems  proper 
to  give  a  few  statistics  in  order  to  show  how  the  labor-or- 
ganizations manage  their  business. 

Almost  all  local  unions  have  a  double  object:  resistance  to 
employers  and  assistance  to  their  own  members.  I  shall 
return  to  the  subject  of  mutual  aid  in  another  chapter;"  in 
this  chapter  we  shall  confine  our  attention  to  the  former 
question.     A  few  examples  will  suffice. 

Typographical  Union  No.  42  of  Minneapolis  gives  a 
sick-benefit  of  $6  per  week  for  thirteen  weeks  and  a  death- 
benefit  to  the  families  of  deceased  members;  subsidies  are 
often  granted  to  other  unions  when  they  are  on  strike.  The 
cost  of  administration  represents  about  25  per  cent  of  the 
aggregate  expenses.  Members  pay  dues  both  to  the  local 
union  and  the  international  union. 

Painters  and  decorators  contribute  35  cents  a  month,  of 
which  5  cents  goes  to  the  strike-fund,  20  cents  to  the  pay- 
ment of  sick-benefits  and  other  local  expenses,  and  10  cents 
to  the  brotherhood  which  pays  benefits  upon  death  or  per- 
manent disability. 

Many  of  the  national  and  international  unions  also  have 
this  double  object.  Their  receipts  come  from  the  local 
unions  or  from  the  members  direct.  In  1892  the  Interna- 
tional Typographical  Union  published  its  ordinary  budget. 
It  was  divided  as  follows :  20  per  cent  for  administrative  ex- 


by  the  unions  themselves,  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  was  very 
much  pleased  in  1895  with  the  growth  that  had  taken  place:  860 
organizations  with  157,197  members  in  1894,  927  organizations  and 
180,231  members  in  1895.  He  added  that  this  number  would  prob- 
ably reach  225,000  by  January,  1896.  Although  New  York  is  one 
of  the  States  in  which  labor-organizations  have  met  with  the  great- 
est success,  the  total  membership  had  not  reached  a  third  of  the 
employees,  850,000,  in  1890.  [In  the  first  quarter  of  1897  there  were 
927  labor-unions  in  New  York,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of 
142,570;  in  the  last  quarter  of  1898,  1087  organizations  with  171.067 
members,  of  which  7505  were  women.  The  Commissioner  of  Labor 
estimates  that  about  ten  per  cent  of  the  persons  engaged  in  gain- 
ful occupations,  were  members  of  unions.] 
43  See  L'Ouvrier  Americaiii,  chap.  v.  part  ii. 


210  The  American  Laborer 

penses  including  the  publication  of  the  Typographical  Jour- 
nal, 30  per  cent  for  the  resistance  fund,  30  per  cent  for  death- 
benefits,  20  per  cent  for  the  home  for  aged  printers."  The 
American-German  typographical  union  (1366  members)  ex- 
expended  in  1891-1892:  $9358  in  ''work-benefits,"  $4819 
for  strikes,  $997  for  "  travelling  benefits,"  $3564  for  admin- 
istration and  propaganda,  $2251  for  death-benefits.45 

The  International  Union  of  Bricklayers  and  Masons,  with 
a  membership  of  about  35,000,  does  not  concern  itself  with 
insurance  of  any  kind,  but  confines  its  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject of  resistance.  In  the  eleven  years  1882-1893  it  expend- 
ed about  $500,000  in  strikes  which  had  been  authorized  or 
approved  by  the  general  organization.  Strikers  receive 
from  $5  to  $7  a  week,  the  necessary  funds  being  secured  at 
each  strike  by  special  levies  upon  the  individual  members. 
The  union  never  authorizes  more  than  three  strikes  at  once. 

The  International  Brotherhood  of  Brass-Workers  uses  40 
per  cent  of  its  receipts  for  administrative  expenses,  a  rather 
large  proportion.  The  other  60  per  cent  is  divided  equally 
between  the  funds  for  strikes,  propaganda,  and  sick-benefits. 
The  money  necessary  to  maintain  their  journal  and  pay  fu- 
neral and  death-benefits  ($100),  is  obtained  by  special  assess- 
ments. 

In  the  Brotherhood  of  Iron  Ship-Builders  the  members 
pay  50  cents  a  month  to  their  local  lodges;  the  local  lodges 
pay  an  initiation  fee  of  $15  on  entering  the  Brotherhood  and 
50  cents  per  quarter  for  each  member. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen,  which  had 
26,000  members  in  1892,  is  composed  of  a  great  number  of 
lodges.  The  minimum  dues  are  $5  a  year  to  the  local  lodge 
and  $2  to  the  brotherhood.  The  lodge  pays  the  sick-bene- 
fits and  maintains  an  employment  bureau;  by  a  two-thirds 

"The  distribution  of  receipts  at  present,  is  as  follows:  one-sixth 
to  the  fund  for  general  expenses;  one-fourth  to  the  defense  fund; 
one-fourth  to  the  burial  fund;  one-third  to  the  Childs-Drexel 
Home.     Testimony  of  President  Donnelly  before  cited.     [Tr.] 

45  See  Official  Book  of  the  Federation  of  Labor,  December,  1892. 


Organizations  of  Labor  211 

vote  it  can  impose  special  assessments.  Counting  these 
supplementary  contributions  the  brotherhood  costs  each 
member  not  less  than  $16  annually,  although  the  official 
journal  alone  requires  about  $25,000  a  year  and  there  are 
more  than  $70,000  in  the  strike-fund.  All  the  railway  or- 
ganizations are  on  amicable  terms  with  the  Federation  of 
Labor,  though  they  are  not  affiliated  with  it. 

In  twelve  and  one-half  years  (1878-1891)  the  Cigar-Mak- 
ers' International  Union  expended  $1,426,028:  $469,158  for 
strikes,  $439,010  for  sick-benefits,  $109,608  for  death-bene- 
fits, $372,455  for  traveling  benefits,  and  $35,795  out-of-work 
benefits.48 

The  Federation  of  Labor  has  a  regular  income  which  is 
made  up  of  the  dues  of  the  affiliated  unions.  As  noted 
above,  each  union,  on  admission,  pays  $10  for  a  charter  and 
other  necessary  supplies — seal,  registers,  etc. — and  in  addi- 
tion the  federation  undertakes  to  furnish  office  furniture, 
pamphlets,  etc.,  at  specified  prices.  The  direct  dues  are  one 
cent  a  month  from  each  member  of  an  independent  union, 
and  one-quarter  of  a  cent  per  month  from  each  member  of 
a  national  union. 

In  general  the  dues  are  high,  although  they  vary  accord- 
ing to  the  trade.  The  American  workman  considers  the 
labor-union  a  necessary  item  of  expense,  and  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  give  it  a  relatively  high  place  in  his  family  budget. 
As  we  have  just  seen,  the  dues  of  locomotive  firemen 
amount  to  about  $16  a  year,  and  the  conductors  probably 
contribute  $30  a  year  as  a  result  of  the  high  benefits  their 
organization  pays. 

But  the  union  has  its  advantages  and  American  workmen 

48  According  to  the  testimony  of  the  president  of  this  organiza- 
tion, G.  W.  Perkins,  before  the  Industrial  Commission,  the  union 
expended  in  1899:  $25,118  for  strike  benefits,  $111,283  for  sick  bene- 
fits, $94,939  for  death  benefits,  $70,197  for  "out-of-work"  benefits, 
$70,085  for  salaries,  $27,379  for  labor  agitation,  and  $25,237  in  ren- 
dering assistance  to  traveling  workmen.  Since  1879  the  union  has 
paid  out  $4,045,464  in  benefits  of  various  kinds.  Industrial  Commis- 
sion:    "  Labor  and  Capital,"  p.  170.     [Tr.] 


212  The  American  Laborer 

rate  them  highly.  The  first  of  these  is  the  regulation  of  the 
labor-contract;  the  second  is  the  insurance  feature;  the  third, 
the  means  of  resistance  it  provides.  In  several  trades  the 
unions  and  the  employers  have  drawn  up  tariffs  of  piece- 
rates;  in  other  trades  in  which  the  piece-rate  system  has 
been  rejected  by  the  workman  as  one  cause  of  the  depression 
of  wages,  the  contract  is  made  for  so  much  per  hour  during 
a  fixed  number  of  hours.  Strikes  constitute  the  favorite 
weapon  of  resistance,  and  all  the  unions,  local  and  national, 
spend  a  large  part  of  their  receipts  in  supporting  them. 
They  even  support  strikes  declared  by  other  unions,  some- 
times by  subsidies,  sometimes  by  going  on  a  sympathetic 
strike.  Insurance  against  non-employment  caused  by  lock- 
out or  business  depression,  is  also  frequently  undertaken  by 
the  unions.47  A  number  publish  journals  in  addition  to  the 
regular  reports  of  the  officers. 

The  national  unions  provoke  strikes,  support  them,  and 
even  aggravate  their  severity  by  making  them  more  general, 
but  they  frequently  act  as  checks  and  restrain  the  local 
unions  when  the  demands  of  the  latter  appear  unreasonable. 
The  national  unions  naturally  have  more  information  than 
the  local  unions  and  their  officers  are  abler.  If  there  were 
fewer  labor  organizations  there  would  be  fewer  strikes,  but 
if  the  existing  organizations  were  less  efficient  there  would 
probably  be  more  strikes.  The  unions  demand  arbitration, 
and  in  some  cases  it  has  been  provided  for  in  contracts  with 
employers.  Arbitration  for  the  workman  is  as  politic  as  it 
is  wise,  because  in  the  long  run  it  promises  more  for  the 
workman  than  the  uncontrolled  decision  of  the  employer 
does. 

The  unions  keep  their  hold  upon  the  workingmen  by  lib- 
erally advertising  the  victories  which  they  claim  to  have 
won,  by  strikes  or  amicable  agreement,  in  disputes  concern- 

47  In  1894.  during  the  recent  depression.  Typographical  Union 
No.  6  of  New  York  paid  $30,858  to  members  out  of  work;  Cigar- 
Makers'  Union  No.  90,  $9405:  the  carpenters,  $6059.  etc.  See  Sunt' 
vwry  of  the  Twelfth  Report  ....  Nezv  York,  p.  ill. 


Organizations  of  Labor  213 

ing  changes  in  the  rate  of  wages,  reductions  in  the  hours  of 
labor,  etc.  Out  of  661  unions  who  were  asked  by  the  New 
York  labor  bureau  whether  the  organization  had  improved 
the  condition  of  their  members,  621  responded  "yes."48 

The  cost  of  administration,  at  least  in  those  organizations 
from  which  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  data,  is  relatively 
high,  reaching  20,  30,  and  even  40  per  cent  of  the  total  ex- 
penditures. The  laws  of  the  American  Federation  are  not 
explicit,  except  in  regard  to  the  emoluments  of  the  treas- 
urer.49 This  official  was  formerly  allowed  the  modest  sti- 
pend of  $100  a  year  and  was  required  to  give  bond  in  the 
sum  of  $5000  f°  in  1893  the  salary  was  raised  to  $300.  The 
president  now  receives  $1800  and  the  secretary  $1200. n 
The  statement  of  receipts  and  expenditures  for  the  year 
1890  shows  an  expenditure  of  $3569  for  salaries  and  clerk- 
hire,  one  of  $1216  for  organization  and  traveling  expenses, 
and  an  aggregate  of  about  $4000  for  rent,  printing,  office 
expenses,  etc.  Out  of  a  total  expenditure  of  $21,073, 
$12,060  were  charged  to  strikes:  the  latter  is  almost  the  only 
item  not  embraced  in  the  expenses  of  management.62 


48  In  New  York  in  1894,  554  organizations  declared  that  they  had 
prevented  reductions,  33  declared  that  no  reduction  had  been  at- 
tempted in  their  trade,  and  96  answered  that  they  had  been  unable 
to  prevent  reduction.  In  response  to  another  inquiry  401  organi- 
zations answered  that  since  their  foundation  wages  had  been  in- 
creased, 62  that  wages  had  fallen,  74  that  there  had  been  no  change. 

19  Mr.  Powers  in  one  of  the  reports  of  the  bureau  of  statistics  of 
Minnesota  attempts  to  show  that  the  expenses  of  management  of 
unions  are  not  excessive  because  they  are  proportionately  less  than 
the  cost  of  running  a  railroad  company  or  an  industrial  establish- 
ment. But  there  is  no  comparison  between  these  enterprises:  the 
union  manufactures  no  product,  has  no  raw  material  to  provide,  no 
expensive  personnel  to  maintain. 

50  See  Report,  1890. 

51  Rapport  de  la  delegation  ouvriere,  p.  603.  [The  secretary  now 
receives  $1500  a  year,  and  the  treasurer  $100.] 

62  Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
1890,  p.  17. 

[The  total  expenses  in  1898  were  $19,197.17.  The  American  Fed- 
erationist  cost  $2541.75  (the  receipts  from  the  same  source  being 
$2287.83),  and  a  little  over  $1500  were  spent  in  supporting  strikes 


21  i  The  American  Laborer 

The  International  Typographical  Union  pays  its  presi- 
dent $1400  a  year  and  $3  a  day  when  traveling  for  the  union. 
The  vice-presidents  receive  $1000  and  $300  respectively, 
and  the  secretary  $1700.  The  Order  of  Railway  Conduct- 
ors pays  its  president  $5000,  its  vice-president  and  one  other 
officer  $2000,  its  secretary  $3000,  although  a  $25,000  bond 
is  required  in  each  case  and  it  is  probable  that  there  are  few 
organizations  in  which  the  officers  are  so  highly  remuner- 
ated. In  this  order  the  expense  of  management  is  about  20 
per  cent  of  the  total  expenditure  and  the  dues  per  member 
are  about  $30  a  year.63 

As  a  rule  these  salaries  do  not  exceed  the  wages  of  a 
first-class  workman  and  the  officers,  who  are  fully  occupied 
with  their  official  duties,  find  no  time  to  work  at  their  trades. 
Moreover,  certain  extraordinary  expenses  are  often  involved 
in  maintaining  the  dignity  of  the  office.  As  we  shall  see  in 
the  second  part  of  this  work,  American  workmen  do  not 
like  to  stint  themselves,  and  their  leaders,  who  are  fond  of 
asserting  that  the  wealth  of  the  people  increases  with  their 
power  of  consumption,  are  not  exceptions  to  the  rule.  If 
you  wish  to  be  well  served,  they  say,  you  must  pick  out 
the  best  men  and  pay  them  well.  It  is  certain  that  some  of 
the  presidents  of  these  organizations  are  men  of  distinction. 

Whether  extravagance  does  not  creep  in,  and  whether  the 
management  is  efficient  enough  to  keep  the  unions  in  po- 
sition to  meet  all  their  financial  obligations,  are  questions 
which  I  am  not  able  to  answer.  I  have  seen  only  a  few 
financial  statements  of  labor  organizations.  No  such  state- 
ment was  contained  in  the  reports  of  the  unions  to  the  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  in  1892,  which  were  printed  in  the  official 
book  of  the  session.  The  instability  revealed  by  the  forma- 
tion   and    dissolution    of   local    unions,    indicates   that    the 

and  assisting  similar  movements.  All  the  expenses,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  two  just  mentioned,  may  properly  be  classified  as 
expenses  of  management.  This  is  not  at  all  remarkable,  however, 
when  the  scope  and  character  of  the  federation  aims  are  taken 
into  account.]  M  Rapports  de  la  delegation  ouvriere,  p.  629. 


Organizations  of  Labor  215 

unions  often  have  little  solidity.  On  the  other  hand,  most 
of  the  great  national  unions  are  not  old  enough  to  permit 
a  judgment  to  be  made  concerning  their  value  from  the 
standpoint  of  financial  stability,  particularly  when  their  pen- 
sion provisions  are  taken  into  account. 

In  France,  a  few  years  ago,  complaint  was  made  by  the 
central  administration  of  the  laxity  exhibited  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  medicines  and  the  payment  of  sick-benefits. 
What  is  the  situation  in  the  United  States  where  there  is  no 
control  of  unions?  Should  not  the  federal  law  which  con- 
fers corporate  rights  upon  national  unions,  compel  them,  as 
a  condition  of  incorporation,  to  publish  annually  their  own 
accounts  and  those  of  the  affiliated  unions?  Incorporation, 
however,  is  not  desired  by  all  unions;  some  prefer  to  remain 
under  the  common  law,  in  order  to  preserve  the  freedom 
and  even  the  secrecy  of  their  operations.  Some  American 
publicists,  while  favorable  to  the  principle  of  unionism, 
complain  that  many  labor-organizations  do  not  offer  guar- 
antees solid  enough  to  justify  employers  in  treating  with 
them." 

The  proscription  of  non-unionists. — The  unions  have  given 
a  fatal  stimulus  to  the  movement  towards  monopoly.  They 
pretend  to  control  their  respective  trades,  or  at  least  they  re- 
fuse to  accept  the  rules  of  the  employers,  and  they  are  in- 
clined to  regard  as  their  enemy  everyone,  employer  or 
workman,  who  does  not  belong  to  a  union.  When  there 
are  two  organizations  in  the  same  trade,  war  frequently 
arises  between  them,  as  we  pointed  out  in  describing  the 
Knights  of  Labor;  one  might  begin  at  once  to  write  the 
history  of  these  rivalries  as  has  been  done  in  the  case  of  the 
mediaeval  trade  gilds."  Unionists  firmly  believe  that  or- 
ganization is  their  only  available  weapon  against  the  power 
of  the  employing  class,  and  that  to  gain  all  that  it  is  pos- 

54  See  the  article  of  Mr.  Cummings  in  the  Quarterly  Journal 
of  Economics,  July,  1895. 

3S  See  my  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvrieres  en  France  avant  1789. 


216  The  American  Laborer 

sible  to  gain,  they  will  have  to  fight.  The  consequence  is 
that  they  consider  every  non-unionist  a  traitor,  outlaw 
him,  and  try  to  intimidate  him.  Instances  are  not  wanting 
in  which  the  unions  have  employed  violence.  I  note  a  few 
examples. 

A  New  York  printing  house  which  employed  German 
printers,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  their  trade  required 
American  printers  and  applied  to  Typographical  Union  No. 
6  for  workmen.  But  the  German  union  claimed  the  sole 
right,  as  in  the  past,  of  supplying  the  printers,  German  or 
American,  and  went  on  a  strike.  Their  contention  was 
totally  unjust.56 

In  1890,  120  workmen  quit  a  building  contractor  because 
he  refused  to  discharge  his  non-union  workmen,  and  main- 
tained a  strike  for  five  weeks.  The  official  board  of  arbi- 
tration of  the  State  of  New  York  succeeded  in  restoring  har- 
mony by  persuading  the  employers  to  agree  to  employ  none 
but  union  men,  while  the  non-unionists  were  admitted  to 
the  union  on  the  payment  of  one-half  the  usual  entrance  fee. 

In  September,  1893,  while  I  was  in  Chicago,  eight  non- 
union painters  were  at  work  for  a  contractor  on  Wells  Street. 
The  union  workmen  were  at  that  time  on  a  strike  against  a 
reduction  of  wages,  work  being  slack  on  account  of  the 
crisis  and  the  reaction  following  the  completion  of  the  expo- 
sition buildings.  The  strikers  attacked  the  eight  painters 
with  clubs  and  bricks,  despite  the  intervention  of  the  po- 
lice. One  of  the  non-unionists  by  the  name  of  Schultze 
was  pursued  by  the  strikers  for  more  than  a  mile  and  was 
at  length  caught,  cruelly  beaten  and  wounded  in  the  head 
by  a  brick.  Schultze  fired  a  revolver  at  his  assailants  and 
a  policeman,  who  had  arrived  upon  the  scene  without  know- 
ing the  cause  of  the  disturbance,  fired  at  Schultze  and 
wounded  a  woman  who  was  passing.  By  this  time  the 
crowd  had  taken  up  the  cry  "  kill  the  scabs."  and  the  police 
did   not  get  it   under   control   until   after  the  arrival   of  a 

^ De  la  Conciliation,  publication  of  the  Office  du  Travail,  p.  344. 


Organizations  of  Labor  217 

wagon-load  of  officers.  Some  of  the  non-unionists  and 
strikers  were  arrested,  but  escaped  almost  immediately  in  the 
tumult.  Schultze,  who  had  again  started  away,  was  pur- 
sued by  the  strikers  and  attacked  with  bricks  which  they 
secured  from  a  pile  in  front  of  a  house  that  was  building; 
all  this  time  the  strikers  were  yelling:  "  arrest  the  murderer." 
Weakened  by  his  wounds  Schultze  leaned  against  a  wall 
and  returned  the  attack  with  his  revolver.  A  police  officer 
came  up  as  Schultze  fired,  and  in  turn  opened  fire  on  the 
painter,  who  surrendered  when  he  recognized  the  uniform 
of  the  officer.  The  strikers  still  persisted  in  their  attempts 
to  take  him  from  the  police,  and  in  order  not  to  lose  their 
prisoner  the  police  hurried  him  into  a  post-office,  maltreat- 
ing him,  it  seems,  as  badly  as  the  strikers  had.57 

Agreements  with  employers. — Such  conflicts  are  unfortu- 
nate incidents,  not  the  ends,  of  American  trade-union- 
ism. The  object  sought  is  to  be  able  to  treat  with  the  em- 
ployer on  terms  of  equality.  And  it  is  certain  that  in  some 
industries,  the  building  industry  in  particular,  the  unions 
have  partly  succeeded,  and  at  times  impose  their  own  con- 
ditions. I  was  told  by  certain  French  residents  of  Phila- 
delphia that  in  the  glass  manufacture  the  workmen,  rather 
than  the  employers,  were  the  masters. 

The  stone-cutters  are  for  the  most  part,  it  is  said,  affil- 
iated with  the  Paving  Cutters'  Union  of  America  and  Can- 
ada. This  organization  has  a  great  number  of  branches 
which  have  made  agreements  with  the  employers  in  differ- 
ent cities.  I  have  before  me  twenty-three  contracts  of  this 
kind.  In  them  are  specified  the  dimensions  of  the  paving 
stones,  the  manner  in  which  they  should  be  laid,  the  price 
of  the  work,  etc.  In  Colorado,  in  1891,  it  was  stipulated 
that  wages  should  be  paid  by  the  month,  that  workmen 
should  give  at  least  ten  days'  notice  before  quitting,  that  the 
contract  should  be  binding  for  one  year,  etc. 

From  Chicago  I  brought  away  some  fifteen  contracts  of 

57  See  the  account  in  the  Sunday  Herald  of  Chicago,  Sept.  3,  1893. 


218  The  American  Laborer 

this  kind.  That  concluded  in  1893  between  the  carpenters' 
union  and  the  association  of  carpenters  and  builders  con- 
tains the  following  provisions:  The  joint  committee  of  ar- 
bitration shall  continue  to  hear  complaints  from  employers 
and  employees,  and  adjust  differences;  pending  the  judg- 
ments of  this  committee,  work  shall  not  be  interrupted  ex- 
cept by  the  express  order  of  the  president  of  one  of  the 
associations;  the  workmen  may  quit  work  to  go  on  a  sym- 
pathetic strike  without  violating  the  agreement;  the  work- 
ing day  shall  consist  of  eight  hours,  commencing  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  and  ending  at  five  in  the  afternoon; 
wages  shall  be  40  cents  an  hour  from  April  3,  1893,  to 
April  3,  1895;  the  men  shall  not  be  required  to  work  over- 
time except  in  cases  of  necessity,  in  which  event  they  shall 
be  paid  fifty  per  cent  extra;  wages  shall  be  paid  every  fifteen 
days;  piece-work  shall  be  prohibited;  union  workmen  only 
shall  be  employed;  after  having  signed  this  agreement, 
workmen  shall  work  for  members  of  the  employers'  associa- 
tion only. 

I  subjoin  the  complete  text  of  one  of  the  shortest  of  these 
agreements,  that  of  the  lathers: 

ARTICLES  OF  AGREEMENT. 

Chicago, 1893 

party  of  the  first  part,  and 

the  Chicago  Journeymen  Lathers'  Independent  Un- 
ion, party  of  the  second  part,  hereby  agree  to  the  following 
articles: 

Article  I. 
That  eight  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work. 

Article  II. 
That  the  wages  shall  be  four  dollars  ($4.00)  per  day  for 
first-class,  and  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents  ($3.50)  per  day 
for  second-class  men  until  December  the  first,  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  ninety-three;  and  that  on  and  after  December  the 
first,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three  the  wages  shall  be 


Organizations  of  Labor  219 

three  dollars  ($3.00)  per  day  for  first  class,  and  two  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  ($2.50)  per  day  for  second-class  men. 

Article  III. 
That  all  employees  shall  be  paid  in  full  each  week;  but 
when  an  employee  is  discharged  he  shall  be  paid  imme- 
diately. 

Article  IV. 
That  all  overtime  shall  be  paid  at  the  rate  of  one  and  one- 
half  time,  except  Sunday,  which  shall  be  paid  at  the  rate  of 
double  time. 

Article  V. 
That  the  employer  holds  the  right  to  employ  such  lathers 
as  in  his  judgment  are  best  fitted  for  his  work;  also  the  right 
to  discharge  such  men  at  his  option,  without  any  interfer- 
ence from  the  Lathers'  Union. 

Article  VI. 
That  there  shall  be  allowed  on  each  job  a  steward,  who 
shall  represent  the  union. 

Article  VII. 
That  one  apprentice  shall  be  allowed  to  every  six  journey- 
men. 

Article  VIII. 
That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  employer  to  ascertain  the 
class  of  his  employee's  card  within  one  day  after  their  em- 
ployment, and  on  his  failure  to  comply  with  this  rule  he 
shall  be  responsible  for  the  class  of  wages  demanded. 

Article  IX. 
That  no  employee  holding  a  first-class  card  shall  be  al- 
lowed to  work  for  second-class  wages,  nor  shall  any  em- 
ployee holding  a  second-class  card  be  upheld  in  demanding 
first-class  wages. 

Article  X. 
That  any  and  all  disputes  arising  as  to  the  construction  of 
this  agreement,  or  any  part  of  it.  shall  be  settled  by  arbitra- 
tion. 


220  The  American  Laborer 

Article  XI. 
That  the  Lathers'  Union  shall  at  all  times  carry  on  an  ac- 
tive and  ceaseless  warfare  on  all  contracting  lathers  who  re- 
fuse to  sign  this  agreement. 

Article  XII. 
That  no  strike  shall  be  declared  openly  or  secretly  on  any 
contracting  lather  signing  this  agreement  until  the  cause  of 
the  complaint,  if  any  exist,  is  brought  before  the  arbitration 
committee  and  the  contractor. 

Article  XIII. 
That  a  sympathetic  strike  on  any  building  shall  not  be 
considered  any  violation  of  this  agreement. 

Article  XIV. 
That  this  agreement  shall  go  into  effect  upon  the  first  day 
of  April,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three,  and  hold  good 
until  March  the  fifteenth,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-four; 
and  any  changes  to  be  offered  to  be  on  or  before  March  the 
first,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-four. 

Signature, 

For  Chicago  Journeymen  Lathers'  Independent  Union: 


It  should  be  said  that  it  is  almost  exclusively  in  the  build- 
ing trades  that  the  workmen  have  been  able  to  enforce  such 
conditions,  and  that  the  contracts  which  I  have  just  cited 
were  signed  at  a  time  when  the  task  of  erecting  the  build- 
ings of  the  World's  Fair  made  the  contractors  helpless. 
As  one  of  them  said  to  me,  it  was  necessary  to  submit,  or  the 
work,  which  was  urgent,  could  not  have  been  completed. 
They  were  not  even  allowed  to  employ  non-union  men  when 
the  unions  could  not  supply  enough  labor,  the  unions  claim- 
ing that  all  the  unaffiliated  workmen  had  to  do  was  to  pay 
the  initiation  fee  of  $10.  The  crisis  of  1893-1894  naturally 
relieved  the  pressure  upon  the  contractors. 

In  the  coal  mines,  on  the  other  hand,   it  is  usually  the 


Organizations  of  Labor  221 

employer  who  determines  the  provisions  of  the  wage-con- 
tract. Mr.  Schilling,  secretary  of  the  bureau  of  labor  of 
Illinois,  has  published  one  of  these  contracts  which  had 
been  signed  by  the  miners.  During  the  term  stipulated  in 
the  contract  the  employee  promised  not  to  leave  the  em- 
ployment, not  to  participate  in  any  strike  or  combination  of 
workmen,  and  not  to  conspire  with  other  workmen  to  obtain 
a  higher  rate  of  wages  than  that  agreed  upon;  in  case  he 
violated  the  contract,  the  workman  expressly  agreed  to  for- 
feit all  wages  due  to  him  at  the  time  of  violation,  and  in 
event  of  his  discharge  at  the  end  of  the  term,  to  move  from 
the  dwelling  he  had  occupied  without  demanding  the  cus- 
tomary written  notification.  It  was  further  provided  that  if 
he  did  not  move,  he  should  be  deemed  guilty  of  having 
retained  the  dwelling  by  force,  and  should  be  entitled  to  no 
back  wages  until  he  had  removed  his  possessions  and 
turned  over  the  keys.  The  workmen  might  appoint  a 
weigher  at  their  own  expense,  to  verify  the  work  of  the 
company's  weigher,  but  their  appointee  had  to  be  a  work- 
man in  good  standing,  selected  from  the  miners  employed 
by  the  company.68 

Employers'  associations. — It  is  very  plain  that  in  each  case 
the  stronger  party  rudely  imposes  his  pleasure  upon  the 
weaker.  And  each  party  strives  to  be  the  stronger.  In 
the  mines  and  the  great  manufacturing  works  which  are 
formed  into  corporations  with  a  capital  stock  divided  into 
shares,  the  employers  are  usually  strong  enough  to  resist 
the  unions.  Some  will  not  employ  union  workmen;  others 
do  not  discriminate  against  union  men  but  refuse  to  treat 
with  their  organizations;  others  again  treat  with  the  unions 
without  yielding  to  them. 

It  is  much  easier  for  a  few  great  manufacturers  to  come 
to  a  secret  understanding,  than  for  a  large  body  of  work- 
ingmen  to  form  a  temporary  coalition.  And  the  manu- 
facturers did  not  postpone  combination  until  the  develop- 

°*  Statistics  of  Coal  in  Illinois. — Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  p.  105. 
16 


222  The  American  Laborer 

ment  of  the  trade-union.  "  We  have  long  since  learned 
that  it  was  the  capitalistic  organization  of  modern  industry 
which  was  the  aggressor,  not  the  labor  organizations  which 
took  the  first  step  in  combination."  59 

Paradoxical  as  it  seems,  the  statement  can  be  sustained. 
For  generations,  individual  employers  imposed  their  own 
conditions  and  took  advantage  of  their  superior  position  to 
dictate  the  terms  of  employment.  It  was  to  resist  this  that 
the  workmen  formed  unions;  in  order  to  present  a  united 
front  to  organized  labor,  and  also  to  put  an  end  to  certain 
abuses  for  which  the  workmen  were  responsible,  the  em- 
ployers in  turn  formed  their  associations. 

For  example,  the  enormous  growth  in  the  output  of  the 
anthracite  mines  between  i860  and  1870,  increased  wages 
and  attracted  laborers  of  all  sorts  by  the  thousands.  In  this 
promiscuous  horde,  lawlessness  was  common;  not  only 
strikes,  but  brutality  and  crimes  of  every  description  were 
frequent.  As  a  measure  of  defense  the  employers  formed  in 
1867  the  Association  of  Mahanoy  Valley  and  Locust  Moun- 
tain, which  was  followed  by  similar  associations.  These 
associations  finally  appointed  a  joint  committee  of  the  an- 
thracite mines  of  the  Schuylkill,  which  played  an  active  and 
useful  part  during  this  trying  period.60 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1892  the  iron-heaters  of 
Kewanee,  Illinois,  formed  a  branch  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Iron-Heaters.  The  employers  retaliated  by  declaring  a 
general  lockout  and  closed  their  works.  Three  months 
later  the  workmen,  who  had  not  been  properly  sustained, 
abandoned  the  brotherhood  and  went  back  to  work.61 

In  America  as  in  Europe  the  workmen  in  the  hat-manu- 
facture are  strongly  organized.  In  America  the  employers 
have  also  formed  a  national  association  of  hat-manufactur- 

59  Edward  Cummings  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  vol. 
ix.  p.  364. 

00  See  De  la  conciliation  et  de  Varbitrage,  a  publication  of  the  Office 
du  Travail,  p.  220. 

61  Rapports  de  la  del.  ov.vricrc,  p.  672. 


Organizations  of  Labor  223 

ers.  Committees  of  arbitration  composed  of  representatives 
from  the  two  classes  have  been  constituted,  with  power  to 
adjust  differences  and,  in  case  of  disagreement,  to  call  in  a 
third  arbiter  from  some  other  occupation.  Above  these 
committees  is  a  permanent  mixed  commission  which  su- 
perintends the  execution  of  contracts  made  between  the  two 
parties.62  Nevertheless  the  workmen  have  a  great  deal  of 
power  in  the  hat  manufacture. 

At  bottom,  associations  of  employers  to  raise  prices  or 
resist  advances  in  the  rate  of  wages,  are  not  different  from 
associations  of  workmen  to  raise  wages.  But  the  American 
courts  are  in  general  more  severe  upon  the  former  than  the 
latter. 

The  "  trusts,"  which  I  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter and  which  are  in  some  instances  a  legitimate  outcome  of 
industrial  freedom,  have  been  developed  for  the  most  part 
by  the  necessity  of  securing  united  action  against  strikes 
and  strikers,  although  the  protective  system  has  also  stimu- 
lated their  formation  and  abuse.  The  president  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  attacked  them  in  the  con- 
vention of  1890.  In  the  last  few  years,  he  said,  the  move- 
ment towards  combinations  has  proceeded  with  a  speed  un- 
known before.  We  often  hear  of  associations  formed  with 
the  express  purpose  of  opposing  the  working  classes,  but 
efforts  have  been  made  to  extend  this  movement  beyond  our 
country  and  give  it  an  international  character.  They  had 
nothing  to  fear,  the  president  assured  them,  if  they  were 
strongly  organized  in  their  own  country,  although  they 
ought  to  unite  their  power  with  that  of  foreign  labor-organi- 
zations. 

In  his  testimony  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Edu- 
cation and  Labor,  Mr.  Hewitt,  the  well-known  manufac- 
turer explained  how  labor-unions  and  employers'  associa- 
tions had  been  developed  by  mutual  antagonism.  L"p  to 
this  point,  he  said,  the  struggle  had  been  marked  by  innu- 

62  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  part  iii,  chapter  vi. 


22  i  The  American  Laborer 

merable  disasters.  "  But  one  good  result  has  been  achieved. 
Labor  is  thoroughly  organized  and  marshaled  on  the  one 
side,  while  capital  is  combined  on  the  other.  .  .  .  The  great 
result  achieved  is  that  capital  is  ready  to  discuss.  It  is  not 
to  be  disguised  that  until  labor  presented  itself  in  such  an 
attitude  as  to  compel  a  hearing  capital  was  not  willing  to 
listen,  but  now  it  does  listen.  The  results  already  attained 
are  full  of  encouragement:  the  way  to  a  condition  of  perma- 
nent peace  appears  to  have  been  opened."  ,!3 

In  a  later  address  delivered  while  he  was  president  of  a 
society  of  engineers,  Mr.  Hewitt  repeated  these  ideas  and 
declared  that  the  doctrine  of  freedom  implied  the  right  of 
individuals  to  dispose  of  their  property  or  their  labor  and 
to  combine  to  dispose  of  them.64  He  also  held  that  the  or- 
ganization of  workingmen  should  be  encouraged  so  long  as 
they  confined  themselves  to  the  protection  of  their  own  in- 
terests. We  have  no  more  reason  to  fear  combination  than 
competition,  he  asserted;  both  are  necessary  forces.  But 
he  added  that  the  Americans  lived  in  a  country  in  which 
the  toleration  of  certain  abuses  would  engender  conflict  and 
intensify  the  differences  between  capital  and  labor. 

Comparison  between  America,  England  and  France. — The 
progress  and  practical  importance  of  labor-organizations  in 
.America  are  evident.  As  in  several  countries  of  Europe 
they  have  assumed  the  triple  function  of  educating  the  labor- 
er, assisting  his  family  by  mutual  insurance,  and  protecting 
his  interests  against  the  employers.     The  first  two  functions 

03  Labor  and  Capital,  i,  457. 

64  Mr.  Hewitt,  in  his  inaugural  address  (page  15)  formulates  the 
following  propositions:  (1)  That  the  employers  and  the  employees 
have  an  equal  right  to  form  associations  with  a  view  of  increasing 
or  reducing  wages;  (2)  That  neither  party  has  a  right  to  force  the 
other  party  to  submit  to  its  conditions,  except  through  the  inter- 
position of  tribunals  legally  constituted:  (3)  That  strikes  and  lock- 
outs are  unjustifiable  from  the  standpoint  of  justice  and  cannot  be 
tolerated  except  in  the  absence  of  some  means  of  submitting  the 
difference  to  legal  decision:  (4^  That  no  person  has  the  right  to 
force  another  person  to  associate  with  him  in  any  organization 
whatsoever. 


Organizations  of  Labor  225 

they  perform  with  some  measure  of  success,  but  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  the  education  they  give  is  in  many  re- 
spects false.  The  doctrinaries  of  their  party  possess,  with 
a  smattering  of  economic  science,  a  fund  of  theories  about 
the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth  which  are  almost 
always  derived  from  Karl  Marx  or  Henry  George  and,  be- 
ing Utopian,  cannot  help  deluding  their  devotees.  And  yet  in 
the  older  organizations,  as  is  the  case  in  England,  there  is 
a  large  majority  of  practical,  and  even  conservative,  men. 
It  is  a  rare  thing  in  these  associations  to  find  a  revolutionist 
preaching  the  violent  destruction  of  society  in  order  to  re- 
mold it  according  to  his  dreams,  and  in  this  respect  Ameri- 
can unions  are  distinguishable  from  the  socialistic  schools 
which  dominate  the  labor  party  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
and  which  through  the  channel  of  immigration  are  making 
headway  in  America  itself. 

The  trade-unions  of  England  are  older  than  those  of 
America:  many  were  formed  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  and  the  first  law  legalizing  their  exist- 
ence dates  from  1871.  The  English  unions  have  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  riper  experience  and  many  are  more  strongly 
constituted,  yet  notwithstanding  these  facts,  the  strongest 
English  union,  that  of  the  carpenters,  contained  only  90,000 
members  in  1893,  and  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  En- 
gineers 73,500,  while  in  the  United  States  the  Brotherhood 
of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  numbered  60,000  members,  the 
Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers 
45,000,  the  Iron  Molders'  Union  35,000,  the  International 
Union  of  Bricklayers  and  Masons  33,500,  the  Brotherhood 
of  Locomotive  Engineers  30,000.  The  Knights  of  Labor 
boasted,  at  one  time,  of  being  730,000  strong85  and,  in  1893, 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  claimed  800,000  mem- 
bers. The  statistics  of  the  department  of  labor  showed  in 
the  year  1892  nineteen  English  unions  with  a  membership 


65  Carroll    D.   Wright   estimates  their   maximum   membership   at 
1,000,000.     [Tr.] 


22G  The  American  Laborer 

of  more  than  10,000;  in  the  same  year  the  register  of  the 
Federation  of  Labor  contained  precisely  the  same  number 
of  national  unions  having  more  than  10,000  members. 

In  England  594  unions  reported  1,237,000  members,  more 
than  2000  for  each  union,  and  an  aggregate  expenditure  of 
1,763,000  pounds  sterling,  this  enumeration  being  incom- 
plete. In  1894  a  competent  witness  before  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Labour  estimated  the  total  membership  of  the 
English  unions  at  2,000,000,  which  is  equivalent  to  nearly 
one-half  of  all  the  laborers  in  England.06  As  in  America  the 
unions  have  the  double  object  of  resistance  and  assistance. 
Subsidies  to  strikers  and  discharged  workmen,  assistance 
to  other  trades  when  on  strike,  contributions  to  federations, 
funeral-,  work-,  and  traveling-benefits,  assistance  to  wound- 
ed members,  insurance  against  loss  of  tools,  publication, 
education,  sick-benefits,  cost  of  the  meetings  and  the  pro- 
ceedings, those  are  the  principal  objects  of  expenditure. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  the  trade-unions  have  held  an 
annual  congress.  Here  they  discuss  labor  questions  and 
•pass  resolutions  which  in  latter  years  have  been  inspired  in 
an  increasing  degree  by  the  socialists.  For  several  years 
past  the  unions  have  shown  a  tendency  to  form  federations 
of  unions  in  the  same  or  in  allied  trades,  and  in  several  im- 
portant centers  trades-councils  have  been  created.  During 
these  years  a  disposition  known  as  "  new  unionism  "  has 
manifested  itself  particularly  at  the  congresses,  and  from 
England  it  has  spread  to  America.67 

New-unionism,  which  some  publicists  state  originated 
during  the   great   strike   at   the   London   docks,   connotes 

66  The  official  figures  for  1807  are  as  follows:  The  total  number 
of  unions  was  1287  (567  registered  unions  and  726  unregistered 
unions);  the  aggregate  membership  1,609,909;  the  total  receipts  of 
100  principal  unions  1,981,971  pounds,  total  expenditures  1,896,072 
pounds.  In  the  six  years  1892-1897  these  100  unions  expended  23^ 
per  cent  of  their  total  disbursements  for  dispute  payments,  59^2 
per  cent  for  unemployed  and  other  benefits,  17  per  cent  for  work- 
ing expenses.     [Tr.] 

*7  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  pt.  iii,  ch.  vii. 


Organizations  of  Labor  227 

vaguely  a  form  of  organization  in  which  the  insurance  feat- 
ure is  to  be  relegated  to  the  background  and  all  efforts  con- 
centrated upon  the  attack.  It  calls  upon  united  labor  to 
support  successively  every  body  of  workmen  that  brings  is-  ( 
sue  upon  a  specific  point  and  in  this  way  hopes  to  give  to 
the  lower  classes  of  labor  that  power  of  resistance  which 
until  now  has  been  possessed  by  the  higher  classes  only. 
It  addresses  itself  less  to  the  employer  than  to  the  State  and 
demands  the  settlement  of  the  labor  problem  in  accordance 
with  the  views  of  the  labor-organizations.  The  means  pro- 
posed are  laws  for  compulsory  arbitration,  inspection  and 
regulation  of  factories,  etc.,  which  will  destroy  the  authority 
of  employers  over  their  own  workshops.  The  new  union- 
ists are  closely  associated  with  the  collectivist  party,  but  do 
not  merge  their  identity  in  it,  because  they  regard  their  own 
programme  as  the  more  politic  and,  in  reality,  the  more 
practical.68 

Between  the  old  and  the  new  unionism  there  is  a  diversity 
of  tendency  if  not  an  open  quarrel.  The  secretary  of  the 
national  cigar-makers'  union  gave  voice  to  this  difference 
in  his  report  for  1894,69  and  many  other  evidences  of  the 
same  feeling  could  be  cited.  In  the  joint  conferences  of  the 
American  Federation  and  the  English  trades-unions,  social- 
istic measures  prevailed  so  long  as  the  vote  was  by  unions, 

88  For  England  see  the  first  volume  of  Lavollee's  Classes 
Ouvrieres  en  Europe,  chap.  x. 

68  The  secretary  expressed  himself  as  follows  at  the  Milwaukee 
convention  of  the  Cigar-Makers'  International  Union,  in  1894: 
"  The  system  of  the  subdivision  of  labor,  employed  under  modern 
means  of  production,  renders  it  impossible  for  the  individual  to 
assert  his  independence.  Each  worker  is  dependent  upon  the 
other,  hence  the  only  means  whereby  labor  can  defend  its  rights  is 
by  organization.  It  is  impossible  for  one  man  singly  to  enforce 
the  fulfilment  of  his  desire  for  shorter  hours  and  more  compensa- 
tion, yet  it  becomes  an  easy  matter  to  attain  both  objects  by  uni- 
form cooperation  and  concerted  action  upon  the  part  of  all  the 
workers."  Mr.  Perkins  adds  that  while  he  had  no  desire  to  dis- 
courage an  independent  political  movement,  the  economic  or  trade- 
union  movement  should  not  be  lost  sight  of.  American  Federation- 
ist,  October,  1894,  p.  169. 


228  The  American  Laborer 

because  the  new  unions,  with  relatively  small  memberships, 
were  in  the  majority.  But  the  complexion  of  the  legisla- 
tion has  changed  since  the  system  of  apportioning  the  rep- 
resentation of  the  unions  in  accordance  with  their  respective 
numbers,  has  been  adopted;  the  older  and  larger  unions  are 
more  intelligently  governed  and  have  a  greater  respect  for 
property  rights. 

In  France,  according  to  official  statistics,  the  number  of 
unions  in  1893  was  1926,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of 
402,000  (about  208  per  organization).  In  addition,  there 
were  61  federations  of  unions,  of  which  only  three  had  more 
than  10,000  members  and  only  seven  between  5000  and 
10,000  members.  This  showing  is  very  inferior  to  that 
made  by  the  English  and  American  organizations,  and  it 
may  be  stated  as  a  general  fact  that  in  respect  to  numbers, 
the  organization  of  labor  in  France  is  far  inferior  to  that  in 
England  and  the  United  States.  In  this  country  the  pro- 
fessional interests  of  the  workingman  are  too  often  subor- 
dinated to  politics.70 

Labor  statistics  in  the  three  countries  are  neither  exactly 
comparable  nor  wholly  trustworthy,  but  they  justify  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions:'1  In  the  last  fifteen  years,  labor-organi- 
zations have  increased  greatly  in  all  three  countries;  those 
of  France  are  the  least  developed,  not  in  respect  to  the  num- 
ber of  unions,  but  in  regard  to  the  number  of  members,  the 
size  of  the  budgets,  and  probably  in  regard  to  organization 
and  the   practicability  of  their  programmes;  the   English 

70  The  returns  for  1898  show  2361  unions  in  France  with  an  ag- 
gregate membership  of  419,761.  Seventy-six  federations  of  unions 
had  been  formed,  and  in  addition,  there  were  1965  associations  of 
employers  and  1824  agricultural  unions.  Many  of  the  unions  are 
small,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they  were  not  legalized  until 
1882  notable  progress  has  been  made,  with  respect  both  to  the 
number  and  the  size  of  the  unions.  For  a  comparison  of  the 
trade-union  with  the  French  mutual-aid  society,  see  L'Ouvrier 
Amiricain,  part  ii,  chap.  v. 

n  See  the  Journal  OfHciel  of  Jan.  4,  1894,  the  Report  of  the  Work 
of  the  Labour  Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade  (1893-1894),  and  the 
Official  Book  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  Dec,  1893. 


Organizations  of  Labor  229 

unions  are  the  richest  and  probably  the  best  organized,  but 
the  moral  and  political  conditions  of  America  are  favorable 
to  the  organization  of  labor,  and  at  present  the  American 
federations  and  unions — international,  national,  and  local — 
are  pressing  the  English  unions  very  closely  in  these  re- 
spects. 

The  labor-union  as  now  constituted  is  a  comparatively  re- 
cent form  of  association.  It  differs  essentially  from  the  old 
craft  gild  as  its  very  raison  d'etre  is  the  limitation  of  the  em- 
ployers' authority,  while  the  gilds  protected  the  masters  in 
their  ancient  privileges.  The  gild  was  a  combination  of 
masters  and  workmen  for  the  benefit  of  both;  the  unions 
institute  strikes  against  the  employers  and  at  times  resort 
to  violence,  a  very  rare  occurrence  under  the  old  regime. 
The  ancient  masters  cherished  a  deep  affection  for  the  gild 
— the  bulwark  of  their  privileges.  Modern  workingmen 
feel  the  same  affection  for  the  labor-union:  it  is  the  citadel 
which  protects  them,  and  from  which  they  go  forward  to 
the  attack.  The  New  York  Commissioner  of  Labor  made 
himself  the  mouthpiece  of  the  workingmen  when  he  said : 

"  It  is  clear  that  the  working  people  of  the  State  have 
reaped  innumerable  benefits  through  the  influence  of  the 
associations  devoted  to  their  interests.  Wages  have  been 
increased;  working  time  has  been  reduced;  the  membership 
rolls  have  been  largely  augmented;  distressed  members 
have  received  pecuniary  relief;  general  conditions  have  been 
improved,  and  labor  has  been  elevated  to  a  high  position  in 
the  social  scale." 72 

Hitherto,  American  law  has  failed  to  suppress  the  abuses 
of  the  union  and  confine  its  activity  within  the  proper 
bounds.  And  yet,  the  legislature  is  plainly  charged  with 
such  a  duty;  it  arises  not  only  from  the  necessities  of  in- 
dustry and  civil  liberty,  but  from  the  interests  of  the  insti- 
tution itself,  for  the  union  will  persist,  and  it  is  incumbent 
upon  the  law-makers  to  direct  it  as  far  as  possible  in  the 


n  Twelfth  Annual  Report  ....  New  York,  pp.  15-16. 


230  The  American  Laborer 

proper  path.  The  organization  of  labor  will  elicit  combina- 
tions of  employers  to  an  increasing  extent  in  America,  as  it 
has  done  in  Switzerland,  and  it  is  a  serious  question  whether 
industrial  liberty  will  not  come  to  grief  in  the  midst  of  the 
hostile  associations  which  have  sprung  from  its  loins.  One 
thing  is  certain:  unionism  imparts  to  the  laboring  class  a 
power  that  it  could  not  have  so  long  as  it  remained  a 
mere  heterogeneous  mass  of  isolated  laborers.  This 
power  may  be  used  for  good  or  evil.  When  the  union,  in 
virtue  of  its  tendency  to  monopoly,  restrains  the  freedom  of 
industry  and  impedes  its  progress;  when  it  persecutes  labor- 
ers who  will  not  join  or  excludes  those  who  desire  to  join; 
when  it  uses  violence  against  property  or  intimidation 
against  persons;  and  when,  under  the  inspiration  of  false  or 
Utopian  theories,  it  declares  systematic  war  against  capital 
and  capitalists  and  thus  paralyzes  the  progress  of  produc- 
tion by  discouraging  enterprise,  its  works  are  evil.  In  so 
far  as  it  fosters  prudence  by  providing  insurance  against 
sickness,  old  age,  and  infirmity;  or  aids  workingmen  to  se- 
cure— with  or  without  the  strike — the  most  advantageous 
conditions  of  labor  and  the  highest  possible  reward  for  their 
toil,  its  effects  are  beneficial.  The  labor-organization  sets 
in  motion  a  great  mass  of  men  under  the  control  of  a  few 
leaders.  If  the  policy  of  the  latter  is  practical  and  conserva- 
tive and  the  laws  against  violence  are  applied  with  enough 
firmness  to  discourage  its  employment,  the  union  is  capable 
of  producing  much  that  is  desirable  for  the  working  classes. 
If  these  conditions  are  not  fulfilled  it  must  inevitably  check 
the  growth  of  national  wealth. 

In  the  United  States  the  evils  of  the  union  would  be 
greatly  reduced  and  the  benefits  not  diminished  if  the  State 
and  Federal  laws  demanded  satisfactory  guarantees  of  re- 
sponsibility from  labor  organizations  desirous  of  securing 
the  privilege  of  incorporation.73     In  a  country  in  which  asso- 

78  In  England  every  incorporated  trade-union  must  have  a  code 
of  by-laws  which  are  open  to  the  public,  a  legal  residence,  and 
must  furnish  the  government  every  year  with  a  statement  of  its 
receipts  and  expenditures. 


Organizations  of  Labor  231 

ciation  is  entirely  free  there  could  be  no  objections  to  a  law 
which  imposed  conditions  such  as  the  designation  of  the 
meeting  place  and  the  officers  of  the  society,  the  annual  pub- 
lication of  the  financial  condition  and  a  deposit  of  the  state- 
ment in  the  public  archives,  the  liability  of  the  society  to 
the  extent  of  its  property  and  the  liability  of  the  officers  in 
their  persons  and  possessions.  The  union  which  enjoys  the 
benefits  of  legal  personality  should  bear  the  burdens  neces- 
sary for  the  security  of  the  public.74 

74  "  The  commission  note  that  trade  unions  (chap,  ix)  have  rarely, 
if  at  all,  taken  advantage  of  the  statutes  permitting  them  to  incor- 
porate. Under  the  national  act  (U.  S.  Stats.,  1886,  chap.  567)  not 
one  prominent  trade  union  has,  in  the  thirteen  years  since  its  en- 
actment, been  incorporated."  Industrial  Commission  ....  Labor 
Legislation,  p.  8.     [Tr.] 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  STRIKE 


Strikes  of  the  past. — For  many  years  it  was  said  in  the 
United  States,  and  repeated  in  France,  that  their  social 
conditions  protected  the  Americans  from  strikes.  This 
statement  would  certainly  not  be  made  to-day,  and  it  was 
an  exaggeration  even  when  made  before  the  development 
of  the  great  industries  which  followed  the  Civil  War.1  At 
every  period,  whatever  the  institutions  and  customs,  dis- 
putes have  arisen  between  workmen  and  employers  in  the 
United  States,  just  as  they  have  in  Europe.  The  present 
is  distinguished  from  the  past  by  the  gravity  and  frequency, 
not  by  the  mere  existence,  of  combination. 

A  record  of  the  strikes  and  combinations  of  laborers  in 
the  United  States  has  been  published  by  the  Department 
of  Labor.  The  list  is  not  complete  but  it  runs  back  to 
1 741,  the  probable  year  in  which  the  combination  of  bakers 
in  New  York  took  place,  and  from  1796,  when  a  combina- 
tion of  the  shoemakers  of  Philadelphia  ended  in  an  increase 
of  wages  and  the  punishment  of  several  strikers,  there  is  a 
continuous  series.  Michael  Chevalier  visited  America  in 
1835,  when  combination  was  prohibited  in  France,  and  ex- 
pressed surprise  at  the  American  customs.  "  Here."  he 
said,  "  the  laboring  class  feels  its  power,  and  combination 
is  open."     He  mentioned  public  assemblies   held  in   New 


1  Mr.  Albert  S.  Bolles,  in  his  excellent  little  manual,  Chapters  in 
Political  Economy,  said  as  late  as  1874:  "  In  this  country  we  have 
never  been  troubled  by  this  question.  .  .  ."  "  Strikes  in  this 
country  have  not  been  very  serious  nor  long  protracted,"  pp.  31 
and  33. 


The  Strike  233 

York  and  Philadelphia,  the  latter  of  which,  a  meeting  of 
seamstresses,  was  presided  over  by  the  economist,  Carey, 
assisted  by  two  clergymen;  at  another  place  the  bakers 
struck  against  making  bread  on  Sundays.  He  noted  also 
that  violence  sometimes  was  used — strikers  chasing  the 
workmen  who  would  not  quit  work  with  sticks  and  stones, 
and  carpenters  in  Philadelphia  setting  fire  to  houses  which 
their  employers  were  building;  he  noticed  also  that  the 
municipal  authorities  were  favorable  to  them.2  Some  years 
later,  however,  a  well-informed  American  writing  in 
French  and  for  European  readers,  said  that,  owing  to  the 
very  freedom  which  existed  in  America,  it  was  "  excessively 
rare  that  a  collision  occurred  between  society  and  the  labor- 
ing class."  3  Nevertheless  a  series  of  strikes  occurred  in  the 
first  third  of  the  nineteenth  century,  beginning  with  that  of 
the  sailors,  whom  the  constables  dispersed  by  force,  at  New- 
York  in  1803.  At  Dover,  N.  H.,  in  1827,  the  female  hands 
of  a  weaving  mill  struck  on  account  of  being  questioned 
and  fined  for  lateness,  .and  in  1829  the  immigrants  who  had 
been  brought  from  Europe  to  work  on  the  Chesapeake  and 
Ohio  Canal  went  on  a  strike,  were  arrested,  and  released 
only  after  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  had  been  sworn  out. 

Since  1830,  hardly  a  year  has  passed  without  a  strike  be- 
ing recorded,  although  there  were  only  three  years  before 
the  war  in  which  the  number  exceeded  ten.4  Strikes  were 
thus  very  infrequent  before  the  war,  but  they  increased  rap- 
idly afterwards:  the  Sons  of  Vulcan  alone  supported  87 
from  1867  to  1875,  and  the  Cigarmakers'  International 
Union  78  from  1871  to  1875.  There  was  a  sudden  increase 
to  762  in  the  year  1880.  Most  of  these  strikes  were  short, 
but  not  all  of  them;  the  iron-workers'  strike  at  Pittsburg 
in    1842   lasted   five   months,   for   example,   and   the   shoe- 


*  Lettres  sur  FAmerique  dti  Nord,  II,   160. 

*  De  la  Puissance  Americaine,  by  Guillaume  Tell  Poussin,  ch.  xxiii 
(2  vol.,  1843). 

*  Eleven  in  1835,  thirteen  in   1853  and  the  same  number  the  fol- 
lowing year. 


234  The  American  Laborer 

makers'  strike  in  Massachusetts  in  1850,  cost  the  workmen 
at  least  $200,000  in  wages.5  Out  of  the  1491  strikes  and 
lockouts  recorded  from  1741  to  1880,  1089  were  caused  by 
differences  about  wages.  According  to  the  official  sta- 
tistics, 316  resulted  favorably  for  the  workmen  and  583 
unfavorably,  154  were  compromised,  and  in  438  cases  the 
result  was  unknown. 

Statistics  of  strikes  from  1881  to  1886. — During  the  six 
years,  1 881  -1886,  for  which  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
has  given  detailed  statistics,  the  recorded  strikes  number 
3902,  and  the  lockouts  2214;  the  former  affected  22,304 
establishments  and  1,323,000  persons;6  four-fifths  of  these 
disputes  occurred  in  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio  and  Illinois.  The  principal  causes  were  de- 
mands for  higher  pay  and  a  shorter  working-day.'  The 
declaration  of  the  strike  necessarily  comes  from  the  work- 
men, upon  whom  it  entails  hardship  from  beginning  to 
end.  "  The  strike,"  said  one  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Labor  of  New  York,  "  is  a  present  positive  sacrifice  for 
a  future  possible  good,  and  it  is  an  assertion  of  the  work- 
ingman's  freedom  in  his  business  relations."  s  Strikes  are 
sometimes  instigated  secretly  by  manufacturers  who  are 
over-stocked.9 

°  The  World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia,  1895,  p.  96. 
"88.4  per  cent  male,  11.6  per  cent  female.  " 

7  The  proportional  distribution  of  causes  for  the  period  1881- 
1886,  was  as  follows: 

Cause.  Per  cent. 

For  increase  of  wages 42.32 

For  reduction  of  hours   19.48 

Against  reduction  of  wages  7.77 

For  increase  of  wages  and  reduction  of  hours 7.59 

For  reduction  of  hours  and  against  being  compelled  to 

board  with   employer   3.59 

For  change  of  hour  of  beginning  work 1.61 

For  increase  of  wages  and  against  the  contract  system.  1.07 

For  other  causes  16.57 

Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  17. 
"  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  of  the  State  of 
New  York  for  the  Year  1890. 

Labor  is  not  always  at  fault.     It  is  a  Godsend  sometimes  to 
have  a  strike  when  there  is  an  overproduction. 


The  Strike  235 

These  strikes  with  that  of  the  telegraphers  in  1883  and 
that  of  the  railroad  employees  in  the  Southwest  in  1885  and 
1886,  created  great  disturbances,  besides  being  very  costly; 
the  loss  to  employers  was  estimated  at  $34,000,000  (30,- 
700,000  on  account  of  strikes  and  $3,400,000  on  account  of 
lockouts  by  employers),  and  that  to  employees  at  $60,000,- 
000  ($51,800,000  on  account  of  strikes  and  $8,200,000  on 
account  of  lockouts).  The  Commissioner  calculated  that 
in  cases  where  the  strikers  obtained  the  increase  demanded, 
or  a  part  of  it,  99  working-days  were  required  on  an  av- 
erage to  make  up  for  the  wages  lost  during  the  strike.9* 

Statistics  show  that  only  about  one-half  the  strikers  are 
benefited;  in  every  100  persons  involved,  39.2  participate 
in  successful  strikes,  49.9  in  unsuccessful  strikes,  and  10.9 
in  partially  successful  strikes.  The  proportion  of  strikers 
seems  greater  in  America  than  in  France  or  England. 
After  the  dispute,  the  number  of  employees  is  found  to  be 
reduced  about  3  per  cent,  on  an  average,  and  about  6  per 
cent  of  the  old  workmen  have  been  replaced  by  new  em- 
ployees.10 

The  strike  and  the  lockout  are  dangerous  weapons,  and 
although  they  sometimes  bring  victory,  they  invariably 
wound  those  who  use  them. 

Strikes  since  1887. — Since  the  investigation  of  the  De- 
partment of  Labor,11  strikes  have  continued  to  occur,  and 
have  increased  rather  than  decreased  in  number  and 
gravity.  From  1881  to  1887  there  were  on  an  average 
765  strikes  a  year;  from  1888  to  1894,  1292  a  year,  while 
in  1890  the  number  rose  to  1833.  The  number  of  work- 
men involved  has  increased,  reaching  an  average  of  about 


"  Question. — You  think  capital  may  then  stimulate  the  strike? 
"  Answer. — I  think  it  is  done  very  frequently. 
"  The   Chairman. — Some    other    witnesses   have    testified    to    that 
effect."     Labor  and  Capital,  ii,  219. 
9a  Ibid.,  p.  191. 

10  Ibid.,  p.   13. 

11  The   original    investigation   has   been   brought   up   to   the   \  •  ar 
1894  in  the  Tenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor. 


236  The  American  Laborer 

271,000  per  annum,  while  at  the  same  time  the  proportion 
of  successful  strikes  seems  to  have  fallen;  only  about  43 
out  of  every  100  strikes  succeeded  between  1888  and  1894. 
The  evil  effects  of  some  of  these  strikes  were  felt  even  in 
Europe. 

An  examination  of  the  strikes  and  lockouts  between 
January,  1881,  and  June  30,  1894 — the  period  covered  by 
the  official  records  of  the  Department  of  Labor — shows 
that  about  15,000  strikes  were  held  which  involved  70,000 
establishments  and  4,000,000  employees.  The  latter  were 
successful  in  a  little  less  than  45  strikes  out  of  every  hun- 
dred, but  they  suffered  a  loss  of  $190,000,000,  while  the 
employers  lost  about  $95,000,000. 

For  some  years  after  1885  tne  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics 
of  the  State  of  New  York  published  annually  a  statistical 
account  of  strikes  and  boycotts  in  that  state.  In  the 
special  report  upon  strikes  published  in  1873,  tne  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  stated  that  a  better  feeling-  undoubtedly 
prevailed  between  employers  and  employees  than  in  pre- 
vious years,  and  mentioned  that  only  2398  strikes  had 
occurred  in  New  York  in  1892,  while  in  1891  there  had 
been  4519,  and  in  1890,  6258.  He  estimated  approxi- 
mately, that  the  employers  lost  $353,915  in  1892,  and  the 
employees  $81 5,75s.12  Nearly  2000  employees  had  been 
unable  to  secure  their  old  positions  after  the  strikes,  and 
many  manufacturers  had  been  unable  to  resume  business. 

In  Newr  York  in  1892,  of  the  35,824  persons  involved  in 
strikes,  8486  struck  for  an  increase  of  wages,  4503  against 
a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor,  2313  against  the  em- 
ployment of  non-union  workmen,  2266  against  a  reduction 
of  wages,  and  2836  on  account  of  refusals  to  renew  agree- 
ments; the  persons  engaging  in  sympathetic  strikes  num- 
bered 6948.  These  are  the  principal  causes  of  strikes  in 
all  the  states  of  the  Union. 

The  results  of  the  New  York  investigation  seem  a  little 


12  Tenth  Annual  Report,  p.  3 


The  Strike  237 

more  favorable  to  the  workmen  than  those  obtained  in 
the  wider  investigation  made  by  the  Department  of 
Labor.  Considering  all  the  strikes  in  New  York  during 
the  eight  years  1885- 1892,  it  is  found  that  531,000  persons 
and  22,559  establishments  were  involved,  of  which  15,280 
establishments  yielded  to  the  demands  of  the  strikers;  the 
gain  to  workmen  resulting  from  the  increase  in  wages  was 
$9,800,000,  the  loss  to  employers  $6,400,000,  and  the  total 
loss  to  industry  $9,800,000. 

The  report  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1895, 
records  417  strikes,  of  which  313  occurred  in  Brooklyn 
and  New  York  city.  Demand  for  higher  wages  (151 
strikes),  or  the  discharge  of  non-union  workmen  (94 
strikes),  and  refusal  to  accept  reduction  of  wages  were,  as 
usual,  the  principal  causes.  According  to  the  statistician, 
67  strikes  out  of  every  hundred  were  successful;"  the  pro- 
portion  seems  very  high. 

The  sympathetic  strike. — The  sympathetic  strike  is  pecu- 
liarly American;  it  has  been  more  frequent  in  the  United 
States  than  elsewhere,  probably  because  labor  is  more 
strongly  organized  there  than  in  any  other  country  with 
the  exception  of  England.  It  is  not  at  all  essential  in  this 
kind  of  strike  that  there  should  be  a  difference  between 
the  workmen  who  strike  from  sympathy  and  the  em- 
ployers against  whom  the  strike  is  directed.  The  feeling 
of  solidarity  is  the  sole  motive  that  inspires  it;  the  work- 
men voluntarily  sacrifice  their  wages  in  order  to  support 
the  demands  of  some  other  body  of  workmen  who  have 
gone  on  a  strike;  their  object  is  to  coerce  the  employers 
by  aggravating  the  annoyance  which  results  from  the  ces- 
sation of  labor  in  one  industry.  It  is  apparent  that  an  un- 
dertaking of  this  nature  can  be  concluded  and  maintained 
only  where  labor  is  thoroughly  organized.  One  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Labor  who  seems  not  always  to  have 


18  In  the  381  strikes  of  which  the  results  were  known,  the  strikers 
succeeded  in  259,  failed  in  82,  and  compromised  in  40. 

17 


238  The  American  Laborer 

observed  a  strict  impartiality  in  his  judgments  upon  these 
questions,  says :  "  The  sympathetic  strike  is  one  in  which 
the  strikers,  having  no  grievance  of  their  own,  take  action 
out  of  belief  that  another  body  of  workers  is  not  treated 
fairly,  and  so  take  up  the  cause.  The  effect  is  prodigious; 
greater,  indeed,  than  that  of  the  strike  direct."14 

Statistics  upon  this  species  of  the  strike  are  given  in 
the  New  Ycrk  report  from  which  we  have  just  quoted.15 
In  1890,  8534  persons  engaged  in  sympathetic  strikes;  the 
cost  to  employers  was  $25,076,  and  the  loss  in  wages  $250,- 
393;  114  strikers  were  not  reinstated  in  their  old  positions, 
but  644  out  of  the  732  establishments  involved  were  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  the  strikers.  The  most  of  these  com- 
binations had  occurred  in  the  building  trades,  but  the 
most  important  sympathetic  strike  in  1890  was  that  of  the 
cloakmakers  and  allied  operatives,  2603  of  whom  quit 
work  in  order  to  support  the  demands  of  the  striking  cloak- 
cutters;  they  lost  in  wages  nearly  $183,000,  but  compelled 
all  their  employers,  109  in  number,  to  yield."  In  1892, 
in  the  same  state,  738  establishments  and  6943  employees 
were  involved  in  sympathetic  strikes  which,  according  to 
the  report,  cost  the  workmen  $206,513  and  the  employers 
$64,861 ;  377  of  the  738  strikes  were  successful." 

These  figures  are  fairly  representative  of  the  course  of 
events  in  other  states.  On  the  other  hand,  the  follow- 
ing description  of  an  agreement  entered  into  by  the 
builders  and  carpenters  of  Chicago,  through  their  re- 
spective committees  of  arbitration,  will  give  an  idea  of 
how  the  workmen  regard  the  sympathetic  strike;  the 
agreement  was  adopted  February  20,  1893,  at  a  most  fav- 


u  Eighth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  part  ii,  p.  935. 

15  Eighth  Annual  Report,  pp.  936-949. 

16  Ibid.,  p.  938. 

17  Tenth  Annual  Report,  .  .  .  part  ii,  pp.  134-138.  [In  American 
statistics,  a  separate  strike  is  usually  counted  for  each  establishment 
involved.] 


The  Strike  239 

orable  period  for  the  workmen  on  account  of  the  building 
necessitated  by  the  Exposition.  The  work  will  continue 
without  interruption,  one  of  the  articles  provided,  and  all 
parties  will  submit  to  the  decisions  of  the  joint-committee 
of  arbitration.  It  is  stipulated,  however,  that  the  work 
may  be  stopped  at  any  time  by  an  order  signed  by  the 
presidents  of  the  two  organizations,  the  stoppage  to  con- 
tinue until  the  joint-committee  of  arbitration  has  made 
known  its  decision.  But  it  is  understood  and  agreed  that 
if  it  becomes  necessary  for  the  contracting  parties  to  take 
part  in  a  sympathetic  strike  upon  any  building,  in  order  to 
assist  another  trade,  the  presidents  of  the  two  associa- 
tions shall  order  all  work  of  carpentering  upon  the  build- 
ing to  cease,  until  the  difficulty  is  adjusted.  Such  strikes 
shall  not  be  considered  acts  of  hostility  against  any  mem- 
ber of  the  employers'  association,  and  in  event  of  their 
occurrence  it  is  agreed  that  the  union  of  carpenters  will 
guard  and  protect  the  property  of  builders  signing  this 
agreement,  so  far  as  in  their  power,  against  all  damages 
which  such  strikes  entail. 

The  same  stipulations,  in  terms  very  little  different,  are 
found  in  the  agreements  of  other  trades.18  A  sympathetic 
strike  on  any  building,  says  the  agreement  of  the  Lathers' 
Union,  shall  not  be  considered  a  violation  of  this  agree- 
ment. That  of  the  painters  and  decorators  is  more  ex- 
plicit: It  is  understood  and  agreed  that  in  case  it  is  neces- 
sary for  the  workmen  participating  in  this  agreement  to 
take  part  in  a  sympathetic  strike  on  any  building,  in  order 
to  defend  the  principles  of  union,  the  agent  of  the  district 
council  of  painters  shall  order  all  work  of  painting  to  cease 
until  the  difference  is  adjusted,  and  this  interruption  shall 
not  constitute  an  act  of  hostility  towards  any  contractor 
or  other  signer  of  this  agreement.  If  such  a  strike  occurs, 
it  is  agreed  that  the  painters  of  the  union  will  guard  and 


18 1  have  before  me  ten  agreements  of  this  kind  which  I  brought 
back  from  Chicago,  and  the  collection  is  far  from  complete. 


240  The  American  Laborer 

protect  the  property  of  the  contractors,  so  far  as  is  in  their 
power,  from  all  damages  incident  to  such  strikes.19 

The  Homestead  Strike  and  the  Pinkerton  Detective  Agency. 
— In  1892  the  corporation  entitled  the  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany possessed  seven  or  eight  establishments  situated  in 
the  vicinity  of  Pittsburg;  the  capital  stock  representing 
these  establishments  was  $25,ooo,ooo,20  and  the  employees 
numbered  about  13,000.  Of  this  number,  3800  worked 
at  the  Homestead  Steel  Works,  situated  about  six  miles 
from  Pittsburg.  In  several  of  their  establishments  the 
company  had  refused  to  treat  with  labor  organizations  be- 
cause of  strikes  that  had  occurred,  but  at  Homestead  an 
agreement  had  been  made  with  the  Amalgamated  Asso- 
ciation of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers  in  1889,  by  which  wage? 
were  adjusted  to  a  piece-rate  sliding  scale  of  prices;  under 
this  scale,  according  to  reliable  testimony,  wages  varied 
from  $1.40  to  $12  a  day. 

This  agreement,  adopted  for  three  years,  covered  only 
about  800  workmen,  who  were  members  of  the  Amalga- 
mated Association;  the  other  3000  workmen,  among  whom 
were  many  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  and  other  foreigners, 
worked  by  day  or  under  individual  contracts. 

The  agreement  being  about  to  expire,  the  association 
proposed  a  higher  scale,  and  the  company  a  lower  one, 
the  latter  justifying  the  reduction  on  the  grounds  that  the 
price  of  steel  had  fallen,  while  newer  machinery  had  been 
introduced  which  increased  the  productivity  of  the  work- 


19  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  copies  of  the  original  agree- 
ments, so  that  the  text  is  a  retranslation  of  Professor  Levasseur's 
French  rendition.     [Tr.] 

30  Their  actual  value  was  very  much  greater  than  this.  The  new 
Carnegie  Steel  Company,  which  includes  the  old  limited  company 
and  the  H.  C.  Frick  Coke  Company,  is  capitalized  at  $160,000,000, 
of  which  Andrew  Carnegie  owns  $86,379,000.  It  is  stated  on  good 
authority  that  the  company  intends  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  $160,000,000,  which  would  bring  the  total  capitalization  up  to 
$320,000,000,  of  which  $250,000,000  is  represented  by  the  assets  of 
the  Carnegie  Steel  Company  Limited.     [Tr.] 


The  Strike  241 

men.21  The  workmen  contested  the  claim  resting  upon 
the  introduction  of  new  machinery  and  refused  to  accept 
a  reduction  of  the  minimum  or  base  of  the  wage-scale,  on 
the  grounds  that  they  had  no  voice  in  the  fixation  of  the 
price,  and  did  not  wish  to  accept  the  possible  consequences 
of  a  depression  which  they  would  be  powerless  to  pre- 
vent. Several  conferences  between  representatives  of  the 
company  and  the  association  having  been  held  and  no 
agreement  concluded,  the  company  declared  its  intention 
of  enforcing  the  new  scale;  this  would  have  reduced  the 
wages  of  325  workmen  of  the  higher  grades  from  15  to 
30  per  cent,  probably  about  18  per  cent  on  an  average.12 

The  workmen  having  been  told  that  Mr.  Frick's  special 
aim  was  to  destroy  the  Amalgamated  Association,  he  was 
hung  in  effigy,  together  with  the  superintendent,  who  had 
managed  to  conclude  a  three  years'  contract  with  a  great 
majority  of  the  workmen.  On  June  28  the  company  began 
closing  the  works,  and  on  the  first  of  July  the  strikers  took 
possession  of  the  gates  and  even  induced  the  foremen  to 
quit  work. 

The  following  events  occurred  in  rapid  succession:  On 
June  24  the  eight  lodges  of  the  Amalgamated  Association 
each  named  five  delegates,  who  with  ten  other  delegates 
constituted  an  "  Advisory  Committee."  M  This  committee 
of  fifty  managed  to  enlist  all  the  workmen,  who,  without 
regard  for  the  contracts  which  they  had  just  signed,  joined 


21  The  President,  Mr.  Frick,  estimated  that  the  production  of 
the  119-inch  (armor)  plate  mill  had  been  increased  from  2500  to 
5000  tons  a  month  by  the  introduction  of  new  machinery. 

22  During  the  strike  the  association  spread  the  report  that  the 
new  scale  reduced  the  wages  of  unskilled  laborers  but  did  not  affect 
the  higher  workmen.  See  the  report  of  the  special  committee  of 
the  Senate  entitled  Investigation  of  Labor  Troubles,  p.  114:  Senate 
Report  No.  1280,  52  Cong.,  2  Sess. 

23  The  president  of  this  committee,  Hugh  O'Donnell,  was  an 
iron-heater  who  had  made  $199.18  in  the  month  of  May;  under  the 
new  scale,  according  to  Mr.  Frick,  he  would  have  made  $120.75. 
O'Donnell  testified  that  his  own  wages  would  have  been  affected 
but  slightly. 


242  The  American  Laborer 

forces  with  the  Amalgamated  Association.  The  com- 
mittee secured  complete  control  of  the  works  and  town, 
and  the  strikers  were  organized  in  three  divisions,  each  of 
which  kept  guard  for  eight  hours;  there  was  also  a  reserve 
corps  of  800  Slavs  and  Hungarians  under  the  command 
of  special  chiefs.  Guards  were  placed  at  the  gates  of  the 
works  and  the  strikers  encamped  in  an  enclosure  of  about 
forty  acres,  bounded  on  one  side  by  the  Monongahela 
river  and  surrounded  on  the  other  three  sides  by  a  high 
plank  fence  which  the  company  had  erected  a  short  while 
before.  The  terminus  of  the  railroad  was  occupied  and 
the  order  was  given  not  to  allow  any  person  to  get  off  who 
did  not  have  a  pass  from  the  committee;  outposts  were  sta- 
tioned on  the  roads  leading  into  Homestead;  a  small  steam- 
boat and  row  boats  patrolled  the  river;  a  code  of  signals 
by  flags,  steam  whistles  and  fires  was  adopted.  It  was  in 
reality  a  military  occupation. 

The  employees  of  the  company  at  Pittsburg,  the  legal 
residence  of  the  corporation,  no  longer  had  access  to  the 
Homestead  works  and  the  action  of  those  who  lived  in 
the  town  was  completely  paralyzed.  On  the  second  of 
July  it  was  reported  that  smoke  had  been  seen  coming 
from  one  of  the  chimneys  of  the  works,  and  the  committee 
suspected  that  the  company  was  about  to  begin  work  with 
non-union  labor.  They  immediately  sent  a  message  to 
the  superintendent  informing  him  that  unless  the  fire  was 
immediately  extinguished,  they  could  not  be  held  respon- 
sible for  any  act  that  the  men,  who  were  greatly  excited 
by  the  smoke,  might  commit.  In  popular  outbreaks  of 
this  kind  it  is  either  anarchy  or  despotism,  and  in  this  case 
it  was  despotism;  to  prevent  dissensions,  the  committee  had 
placards  placed  in  the  hotels  and  other  public  places,  which 
read:  "  By  order  of  the  advisory  committee,  all  discus- 
sion of  the  question  of  wages  is  absolutely  prohibited  here." 

As  early  as  the  twenty-sixth  of  June,  the  company  had 
warned  the  sheriff,  through  their  attorney,  of  the  immi- 
nence of  the  strike  and  of  their  intention  to  import  300 


The  Strike  243 

"Pinkertons"  to  guard  the  works;  they  asked  that  these 
men  be  swcrn  in  as  deputies,  and  on  the  fourth  of  July 
repeated  their  request,  stating  that  they  had  brought  men 
from  the  Pinkerton  agency,  whom  they  desired  to  be  in- 
vested with  the  official  character  of  deputy  sheriffs. 

The  sheriff  came  to  Homestead  in  person  and  conferred 
with  the  committee.  The  latter  proposed  that  a  number 
of  workmen  be  deputized  to  guard  the  property  of  the 
company,  but  the  sheriff  replied  that  this  was  impossible, 
as  it  would  simply  put  the  association  in  legal  control  of 
the  works  and  aid  them  in  keeping  out  any  non-union  work- 
men with  which  the  company  might  try  to  renew  opera- 
tions. He  had  proclamations  posted  prohibiting  disor- 
derly assemblages  and  any  attack,  threatened  or  overt, 
upon  the  property  of  the  company.  These  proclamations 
were  all  torn  down  and  destroyed. 

On  his  return  to  Pittsburg  the  sheriff  tried  to  collect  a 
posse  of  ioo  deputies,  but  was  unable  to  secure  more  than 
twelve  who,  under  the  direction  of  a  chief  deputy,  pro- 
ceeded to  Homestead.  Not  only  were  they  prevented 
from  entering  the  works,  but  they  had  to  invoke  the  pro- 
tection of  the  advisory  committee  to  escape  violent  treat- 
ment. The  company  seems  to  have  been  convinced  that 
the  sheriff  did  not  manifest  all  the  energy  and  good  will 
that  they  had  a  right  to  expect.24 


"*  "  Have  you  found  the  sheriffs,  constables  and  other  township 
officers  insufficient  for  that  purpose?  "  asked  the  chairman  of  Mr. 
Frick.     "  Yes,  sir,"  the  latter  responded.     Senate  Report,  p.    161. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  in  his  testimony  before  the  Senate  Committee 
(P-  255)  said:  "  I  think  the  trouble  in  connection  with  strike  mat- 
ters has  been  that  politics  has  had  too  much  to  do  with  the  ques- 
tion. I  believe  that  almost  any  section  of  this  country  is  abundantly 
able  to  take  care  of  itself  if  the  officers  will  do  their  duty,  but  the 
trouble  has  been  that  many  of  these  officers  join  labor  organizations 
themselves  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  their  own  interests  in  a 
political  way,  and  you  take  it  in  certain  sections  of  the  country 
and  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  the  sheriff  to  get  a  posse  together 
that  will  not  be  in  sympathy  with  the  strikers  and  whom  he  can 
control." 


244  The  American  Laborer 

The  report  of  the  House  Committee  on  the  same  sub- 
ject contains  this  condemnation:  "We  quite  agree  with 
him  that  the  sheriff,  Mr.  McCleary,  is  a  very  inefficient 
officer."  * 

President  Frick  had  learned  a  lesson  by  an  experience 
with  striking  workmen  in  1889,  and  as  early  as  June  25 
he  definitely  engaged  300  guards  from  the  Pinkerton 
Agency  at  a  cost  of  $5  a  day  per  man.26  The  men  arrived 
secretly,  some  from  Chicago  and  others  from  the  East, 
while  the  agency  hastened  from  Chicago  250  Winchester 
rifles,  400  revolvers  and  as  many  batons;  everything  was 
done  secretly  and  many  of  the  men  did  not  know  the 
nature  of  the  mission  upon  which  they  had  been  sent.  Two 
barges  towed  by  tugs  conveyed  the  men  and  the  weapons, 
which  had  been  supplied  to  them  en  route,  from  Pittsburg 
to  Homestead,  on  the  night  of  the  fifth  of  July;  the  super- 
intendent of  the  company  and  the  chief  deputy  sheriff 
accompanied  them."  An  accident  to  one  of  the  tugs 
caused  a  delay,  so  that  instead  of  landing  and  taking  pos- 
session of  the  property  under  the  cover  of  night,  they  ar- 
rived at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

The  strikers,  who  had  been  forewarned  by  friends  at 
Pittsburg,  were  aroused  by  the  whistle  of  their  little  patrol 
boat.  A  crowd  of  armed  men,  women  and  children  rushed 
to  the  river  and  received  the  boats  with  cries  and  threats. 

I  have  seen  the  place.  The  river  is  not  wide  but  its 
banks  are  steep.  By  the  side  of  the  landing  stands  the 
pump-house  from  whose  windows  the  strikers  could  fire; 
a  steep  road,  almost  parallel  to  the  river,  runs  from  the 
landing  to  the  works. 

The  Pinkerton  men  were  not  experienced  in  such  affairs. 

21  House  Reports,  52  Cong.,  2  Sess.,  vol.  iii.  Report  No.  2447,  p.  II. 

M  The  wages  of  these  men  seem  to  have  been  $2.50  a  day  with 
board  and  lodging.     Seuate  Report,  p.  137. 

2'  The  correspondence  between  the  Carnegie  Company  and  the 
Pinkerton  Agency  may  be  found  in  the  Senate  Report,  pp.  161  and 
235- 


The  Strike  245 

In  his  testimony,  Mr.  Pinkerton  repeatedly  asserted  that 
it  was  his  custom  to  hire  only  men  about  whom  he  had 
sufficient  information,  but  this  does  not  agree  with  the 
testimony  of  a  witness  who  had  been  enrolled  one  night 
after  a  few  moment's  conversation  on  a  Chicago  sidewalk,28 
nor  with  that  of  one  of  the  detectives  in  charge  of  the 
men,  who  declared  that  they  were  a  parcel  of  cowards." 
One  thing  is  certain:  Mr.  Pinkerton  cannot  flatter  himself 
with  having  collected  a  very  elite  force,  measured  accord- 
ing to  the  standards  of  his  profession.  Besides  supplying 
guards  for  property  threatened  by  strikers,  the  agency 
undertakes  to  introduce  detectives  into  labor  organizations 
as  spies.  Mr.  Pinkerton  naturally  spoke  as  little  as  pos- 
sible of  the  latter,  but  the  testimony  upon  the  point  was 
positive,  and  the  prospectus  of  the  firm  mentioned  this 
kind  of  work.30  One  workman  testified  that  there  was 
scarcely  a  labor  organization  in  existence  which  did  not 
number  Pinkerton  men  among  its  members,  and  these, 
he  said,  were  usually  very  active  in  fomenting  strikes.31 

The  Pinkerton  agency  was  founded  in  1850  by  the  father 
of  the   present   Pinkerton   brothers,    and   previous   to   the 

28  See  Senate  Report,  p.   137. 

28  Mr.  Pinkerton:  "A  large  number  of  these  men  were  our  reg- 
ular employees  who  could  be  thoroughly  trusted  for  integrity, 
prudence  and  sobriety.  The  remainder  were  men  whom  we  em- 
ployed from  time  to  time  or  who  were  known  and  recommended 
to  us."     Ibid.,  p.  235. 

Charles  Nordrum,  sub-chief  in  charge  of  the  Pinkerton  force,  in 
reply  to  the  question:  "  What  was  the  quality  and  character  of 
the  men  sent  out  on  that  expedition,  so  far  as  you  observed?"  an- 
swered: "There  were  some  of  the  worst  cowards  on  that  barge 
I  ever  saw  in  my  life."     Ibid.,  p.   143. 

s0"The  Pinkerton  Protective  Patrol  is  connected  with  Pinkerton's 
National  Detective  Agency,  and  is  under  the  same  management. 
Corporations  or  individuals  desirous  of  ascertaining  the  feeling  of 
their  employees,  and  whether  they  are  likely  to  engage  in  strikes 
or  are  joining  any  secret  labor  organizations  with  a  view  of  com- 
pelling terms  from  corporations  or  employers,  can  obtain,  on  ap- 
plication to  the  superintendent  of  either  of  the  offices,  a  detective 
suitable  to  associate  with  their  employees  and  obtain  this  informa- 
tion."    Senate  Report,  p.  62.  31  Ibid.,  p.   113. 


246  The  American  Laborer 

Homestead  affair  had  furnished  guards  in  seventy  strikes." 
It  is  not  astonishing,  then,  that  the  Pinkertons  are  in  bad 
repute  with  the  unions.  In  the  Congressional  investiga- 
tions Mr.  Powderly  made  himself  the  vehement  mouthpiece 
of  their  hatred  and  attributed  to  the  agency  numerous  out- 
rages which  Mr.  Pinkerton  in  turn  denied.33  The  latter 
thinks  that  the  police  and  regular  militia,  when  called  upon 
to  suppress  mob  violence,  are  quite  as  unpopular  as  his 
men.  On  this  question,  however,  the  investigating  com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Representatives  expressed  a  con- 
trary opinion,  and  the  general  sentiment  has  been  that  the 
intervention  of  this  hired  police  aggravates  the  evil  by  the 
irritation  which  it  produces.  One  member  of  the  com- 
mittee, Mr.  Ray,  made  express  reservations  upon  this 
point,34  but  the  committee,  as  we  have  said,  declared  that 
the  employment  of  Pinkerton  men  was  contrary  to  no 
law  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  that  the  practice  had 
"  grown  very  largely  out  of  the  sloth  and  dilatoriness  of 
the  civil  authorities  to  render  efficient  and  prompt  protec- 
tion to  persons  and  property,"  but  that  it  was  "  well  cal- 
culated to  produce  irritation  among  the  strikers,  frequently 
resulting  in  hostile  demonstrations  and  bloodshed."  They 
were  of  the  opinion  that  corporations  should  be  denied  the 
power  of  using  this  agency  without  the  permission  of  the 
state  government,  and  that  it  was  much  preferable  to  rely 
solely  upon  state  officers.  "  Exasperated  strikers  will  not 
molest  or  resist  the  officers  of  the  state,  when,  under  ex- 
actly similar  circumstances,  they  will  assault  the  watch- 
men or  guards  hired  by  corporations."  M 

33  Ibid.,  p.  259.  Mr.  Pinkerton  said  that  in  all  these  strikes  they 
had  only  two  men  killed.  This  was  flatly  contradicted  by  one  of 
their  old  employees,  who  testified  that  in  1886  in  an  affair  in  Wyom- 
ing in  which  he  was  concerned,  sixteen  Pinkerton  men  had  been 
killed. 

"  One  witness  said  that  a  strike  in  the  Chicago  stockyards  in 
1886  would  have  been  settled  by  arbitration  had  it  not  been  for 
the  interference  of  the  Pinkertons.     Ibid.,  pp.  in,  112. 

"  House  Report,  p.  49.  "  House  Report,  p.  15. 


The  Strike  247 

However  this  may  be,  before  the  barges  carrying  the 
300  men  reached  the  landing,  they  were  fired  upon  from  a 
small  boat  belonging  to  the  strikers;  a  moment  later,  when 
the  first  barge  threw  out  its  gang-plank,  the  crowd  arrived 
on  the  high  bank  opposite,  while  a  part  rushed  down  to  the 
landing  and  met  the  Pinkertons  with  a  fusilade  of  stones 
and  bullets  that  wounded  their  leader  and  killed  a  number 
of  the  men.  The  Pinkertons  answered  with  a  volley,  but 
although  a  part  of  the  mob  fled,  none  of  the  Pinkertons 
landed.38  According  to  the  testimony  of  Captain  Heinde, 
it  seems  that  only  twelve  men  had  been  furnished  rifles." 

The  two  barges  drew  back  from  the  bank  and  rested  in 
mid-stream,  while  Col.  Gray,  the  deputy  sheriff,  took  the 
wounded  to  a  hospital  in  one  of  the  tugs.  When  he  re- 
turned a  few  hours  later,  the  crowd  reappeared  on  the 
bank;  they  had  built  a  breastwork  along  the  shore  out  of 
iron  girders  and  scraps,  occupied  the  opposite  bank,  and 
even  brought  up  a  small  copper  cannon;  the  strikers  fired 
from  behind  their  rampart,  while  the  Pinkertons  fired  from 
portholes  which  they  had  made  in  one  of  the  barges.  The 
tug  was  received  with  a  fire  so  severe  that  Col.  Gray  could 
not  approach  the  barges,  but  was  compelled  to  steam  on 
to  Pittsburg  and  leave  the  Pinkertons  to  their  fate;  the 
action  could  hardly  be  called  heroic. 

The  strikers  then  tried  to  blow  up  the  barges  with  dyna- 
mite, and  to  burn  them  by  throwing  oil  into  the  river 
and  firing  it;  but  the  oil  did  not  reach  the  barges.  Finally, 
about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  realizing  that  they 
could  not  get  away  without  the  tugs,  the  Pinkerton  men 
hoisted  a  white  flag  and  made  terms  with  the  advisory 
committee.  Seven  had  been  killed  and  twenty  or  more 
wounded.  They  were  allowed  to  retain  their  clothing, 
but  their  arms  and  everything  else  were  taken  away.  The 
two  barges  were  burned.     The  prisoners  were  led  up  to 


6  See  among  other  testimony,   that  of   Charles   Nordrum,   ibid., 
141.  "  Ibid.,  p.  269. 


248  The  American  Laborer 

the  skating-rink  between  two  ranks  of  infuriated  men, 
women  and  children,  and  on  their  march  were  outrage- 
ously maltreated.  "  I  must  say  that  they  were  subjected 
to  very  inhuman  treatment,"  said  the  chairman  of  the  ad- 
visory committee,  who  got  the  Pinkertons  out  of  town  as 
soon  as  it  was  dark. 

Of  the  strikers,  according  to  one  witness,  eleven  were 
killed.  The  following  day  the  committee  made  desperate 
efforts  to  remove  all  traces  of  the  battle,  and  the  chairman 
visited  the  Governor  to  assure  him  that  all  was  calm  at 
Homestead,  that  the  property  of  the  company  was  being 
respected,  that  there  was  no  necessity  of  calling  out  the 
militia,  and  that  their  presence  would  have  an  unfortunate 
effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  workmen.  The  town  re- 
mained in  the  power  of  the  advisory  committee  for  several 
days,  during  which  arrests  were  made  and  decrees  of  exile 
pronounced;  no  suspected  journalist  was  allowed  in  the 
hotels  and  all  outgoing  telegrams  were  censored.  The 
agitation  reached  Pittsburg,  where  the  life  of  Mr.  Frick 
was  threatened. 

Finally,  martial  law  was  proclaimed  and  Major  General 
Snowden  arrived  with  a  force  large  enough  to  overawe 
resistance.  He  occupied  the  town  and  arrested  several 
strikers  while  many  others  left  town.  But  most  of  them 
remained,  and  a  deep  feeling  of  irritation  lingered  for  a 
long  while  in  the  minds  of  the  laboring  classes;  the  events 
of  the  strike  had  intoxicated  them  and  they  had  come  to 
regard  the  works  as  their  own,  so  that  they  looked  upon 
the  reinstatement  of  the  owners  as  an  usurpation  and  the 
introduction  of  new  workmen  who  accepted  the  new  scale 
as  an  unpardonable  offense.  Those  who  were  arrested 
were  tried  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  on 
the  charge  of  inciting  civil  war,  and  several  were  convicted 
of  treason.33 

18  See  the  brochure  entitled:  In  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  the  Matter  of  the  Insurrection  at  Homestead.  Application 
for  Leave  to  Present  an  Information  to  one  of  the  Supreme  Court 
against  the  Insurgents  for  Treason. 


The  Strike  249 

"  Do  you  think  it  (the  strike)  has  benefited  the  cause 
of  labor  in  any  way?  "  was  asked  of  a  workman  testifying 
before  the  committee.  "  I  think  it  has  learned  labor  a 
lesson,  as  all  strikes  do.  Question. — What  lesson?  An- 
swer,.— It  gives  them  more  knowledge,  teaches  them  how 
to  prepare  for  the  next,  and  makes  them  more  cautious  in 
the  future.  There  has  never  been  a  strike  since  we  knew 
anything  about  labor  at  all  that  has  been  injurious  alto- 
gether. They  have  resulted  in  some  good.  They  have 
stiffened  the  backbone  either  one  way  or  the  other.  They 
have  made  us  more  intelligent.  They  have  taught  us  to 
get  nearer  to  arbitration."  39 

The  House  Committee  was  not  unanimous  in  its  report 
upon  the  employment  of  Pinkerton  detectives.  The  ma- 
jority reported  that  the  strike  at  Homestead  had  no  con- 
nection with  the  tariff;  that  the  employment  of  Pinkerton 
men  was  not  illegal;  that  notwithstanding  this,  Mr.  Frick 
was  censurable  for  not  having  brought  greater  pressure  to 
bear  upon  the  sheriff,  and  for  not  applying  earlier  to  the 
Governor  for  official  protection;  that  the  workmen,  on  their 
side,  had  not  committed  an  illegal  act  in  stopping  the  fore- 
men at  the  gate  and  persuading  them  to  strike,  but  that 
they  afterwards  became  violators  both  of  private  right  and 
public  peace  when  they  refused  to  allow  the  sheriff  to  take 
possession  of  the  works;  finally  they  recommended  that 
every  state  should  pass  a  law  prohibiting  or  regulating  the 
employment  of  Pinkerton  guards  within  its  jurisdiction. 
"  If  the  washerwoman  of  Burgess  McLuckey  or  Hugh 
McDonnell  refuses  to  wash  for  what  he  is  willing  to  pay, 
that  is  her  right,  but  she  has  no  right  to  stand  in  front  of 
his  door  and  fling  stones  at  another  woman  who  comes  to 
take  her  place  and  do  the  work  under  the  new  scale  of 
wages  which  he  is  willing  to  pay."  40 

The  result  has  been  that  many  states,  including  New 
York    (in    1892),    Arkansas,    Colorado,    Minnesota,    New 

89  Senate  Report,  p.  114.  "House  Report,  p.  16. 


250  The  American  Laborer 

Mexico,  and  Wyoming,  have  passed  laws  prohibiting  the 
employment  of  deputy  sheriffs,  armed  guards,  etc.,  who  are 
not  American  citizens  and  residents  of  the  State." 

However  frequent  strikes  may  be,  events  and  lessons  of 
this  kind  are  rare  in  the  history  of  the  laboring  classes  of 
the  United  States.. 

The  strike  at  Pullman  City  in  1894. — The  Pullman  strike 
was  one  of  the  most  important  known  to  history  in  the 
extent  to  which  it  engaged  the  press  and  public  opinion, 
and  particularly  in  the  astonishment  which  it  caused  among 
European  philanthropists  whose  confidence  in  the  sover- 
eign efficacy  of  industrial  patronage  had  been  too  serene. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  describe  here  the  organization  of  the 
city  of  Pullman,  which  is  now  a  part  of  Chicago.  The 
land  upon  which  the  city  was  built,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  owned  by  Mr.  Pullman  and  situated  some  distance 
from  the  city  of  Chicago;  here  Mr.  Pullman  erected  his 
vast  shops  for  the  repair  and  construction  of  railroad  cars 
which  he  both  sold  outright  and  operated  on  his  own  ac- 
count by  contracts  which  he  had  made  with  most  Ameri- 
can railway  companies.  Mr.  Pullman  had  built  a  veritable 
city,  the  houses  of  which  he  owned  and  rented  to  his  work- 
men.    The  place  contained  about   14,000  inhabitants.43 

In  1892  and  the  first  half  of  1893  business  had  been 
very  brisk  at  Pullman;  five  or  six  thousand  workmen  had 
been  employed  and  wages  were  high.  The  railroads  were 
increasing  their  rolling  stock  for  the  World's  Fair.  But 
a  crisis  which  had  been  threatening  for  a  long  time  sud- 
denly manifested  itself  and  work  fell  off,  the  situation  be- 
ing worse  because  the  railroads  had  previously  laid  in  an 
extra  supply  of  cars.  The  works  were  kept  busy  for  a 
while  in  repairing  Pullman  cars,  but  business  languished 
and  Mr.  Pullman  finally  reduced  wages.  It  was  winter 
and  the  men  murmured,  complaining  that  while  wages  had 

41  Regulations  of  similar  import  have  since  been  enacted  in  at 
least  thirteen  other  States  and  Territories.     [Tr.] 

"  See  L'Ouvricr  Amcricain,  part  ii,  ch.  iii,  and  part  iii,  ch.  iv. 


The  Strike  251 

been  reduced  a  third  and  in  some  cases  a  half — the  real 
reduction  seems  to  have  been  about  25  per  cent — rents 
were  not  changed.43  Several  workmen  were  ejected. 
"  There  will  be  trouble  in  the  spring,"  people  said  to  them- 
selves. 

The  demand  for  the  old  wages  was  denied,  and  the 
workmen  appealed  to  the  newly-formed  American  Railway 
Union;  the  president,  Eugene  V.  Debs,  advised  them  not 
to  strike  until  the  union  was  in  a  condition  to  support 
them.  The  workmen  had  two  interviews  at  the  City  Hall 
of  Chicago  with  the  company;  the  first  on  the  seventh  of 
May  with  a  manager,  the  second,  two  days  later,  with  Mr. 
Pullman  himself,  who  described  the  situation  of  the  com- 
pany, asserted  that  he  had  accepted  orders  at  a  loss  in 
order  to  give  the  men  work,  and  that,  consequently,  it  was 
impossible  to  raise  wages;  he  promised  to  examine  their 
grievances  and  not  to  discharge  the  workmen  who  had 
led  the  movement.  Notwithstanding  this,  three  of  the 
leaders  were  discharged  on  the  following  day,  and  the  com- 
mittee which  examined  the  complaints  decided,  without 
having  heard  the  workmen,  that  they  had  no  basis. 

Upon  this  news  the  ill-feeling  became  very  intense.  As- 
sembling secretly  on  the  following  night,  the  delegates  of 
the  local  unions  of  Pullman  City  decided  unanimously  to 
strike  at  noon  the  next  day.  In  the  morning,  while  the 
men  were  in  the  shops,  the  news  spread  that  Mr.  Pullman 
had  decided  upon  a  general  lockout,  to  take  effect  at  noon. 
The  majority  decided  to  anticipate  the  lockout  and  quit 
work  immediately;  others  waited  until  the  appointed  hour. 
A  small  number,  about  600,  attempted  to  return  to  work 
in  the  afternoon,  but  found  the  doors  closed  by  order  of 
Mr.  Pullman,  and  placards  posted  announcing  that  work 
was  suspended  for  an  indefinite  time.  The  procedure  of 
both  sides  led  to  the  same  result — idleness. 

43  One  champion  of  the  workmen  claims  that  certain  workmen 
had  to  use  a  whole  half-month's  wages  to  pay  their  rent.  For  the 
facts,  see  The  Pullman  Strike,  by  William  H.  Cawardine,  p.  72, 
although  this  brochure  itself  is  a  brief  in  the  workmen's  behalf. 


252  The  American  Laborer 

The  peculiar  organization  of  Pullman  City  was  calculated 
to  complicate  the  affair.  It  had  seemed  hard  to-  the  work- 
men that  rents  had  not  been  reduced  when  wages  were  cut, 
but  it  was  still  worse  when  they  received  no  wages  at  all. 
The  management  did  not  demand  bi-monthly  payment, 
as  before  the  strike,  it  is  true,  and  during  the  strike  no 
workman  was  ejected  for  non-payment;  but  the  rent  was 
due  and  the  debt  kept  rolling  up,  to  the  profit  of  those  who 
withheld  the  means  of  canceling  the  debt.  Mr.  Pullman 
defended  his  course  by  saying  that  he  had  not  compelled 
the  workmen  to  occupy  his  houses,  and  that  wherever  they 
were,  they  would  have  to  pay  rent.  True  enough,  the 
workmen  answered,  but  it  is  notorious  that  workmen  who 
do  not  live  in  the  company's  houses  are  held  in  suspicion 
and,  in  spite  of  the  denials  of  Mr.  Pullman,  are  the  first  to 
be  discharged  when  work  becomes  slack.  Rents,  more- 
over, Mr.  Pullman  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  are 
higher  than  in  neighboring  places,  and  though  certain 
superficial  luxuries  are  supplied,  they  have  to  be  paid  for; 
water  and  gas,  for  instance,  impose  heavy  additional  bur- 
dens upon  the  inhabitants." 

Mr.  Pullman  presented  a  statement  of  the  financial  con- 
dition of  the  company:  the  capital  stock  was  $36,000,000, 
and  there  was  a  reserve  of  $24,000,000;  in  the  year  ending 
July  31,  1893,  the  receipts  had  been  $11,400,000,  of  which 
$3,800,000  had  been  spent  for  materials  and  labor,  $2,500,- 
000  in  dividends,  and  $1,100,000  for  miscellaneous  items:  it 
had  been  a  prosperous  year.  But  things  were  less 
satisfactory  in  the  next  year;*5  if  orders  had  not  been  ob- 
tained by  bids  which  involved  a  loss  to  the  company,  there 
would  have  been  no  work  and  no  wages  for  the  employees. 
It  seemed  just,  in  consequence,  to  Mr.  Pullman  that  the 

**  According  to  The  Pullman  Strike,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Cawardine. 

45  The  employees,  according  .0  this  statement  which  differs  from 
that  of  Mr.  Cawardine,  numbered  14,636  in  1893,  and  the  wages 
amounted  to  $7,751,000;  in  1894,  the  employees  numbered  10,858, 
and  the  wages  amounted  to  $4,968,000. 


The  Strike  253 

workmen  in  whose  interests  the  work  had  been  accepted, 
should  bear  a  part  of  the  loss.'6  He  was  willing  to  prove 
by  his  books  that  there  had  been  a  real  loss,  but  he  was 
unwilling  to  resign  his  rights  as  proprietor  by  submitting 
to  arbitration  a  question  whose  decision  was  his  alone. 

But  Mr.  Pullman  is  not  an  ordinary  employer,  said  the 
workmen.  It  is  true  enough  that  he  has  built  up  a  gigantic 
industry  by  his  intelligence,  but  the  company  has  accumu- 
lated a  reserve  equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  capital,  part  of 
which  it  owes  to  the  labor  of  the  workmen,  and  it  seems 
only  just  that  the  surplus  accumulated  in  the  years  of 
plenty,  should  be  levied  upon  first  in  the  years  of  famine.47 
This  argument,  which  is  not  wholly  irrelevant,  made  a 
great  impression  in  America.  But  it  raises  a  grave  ques- 
tion: who  has  the  best  claim  to  the  surplus  profits  of  an 
undertaking  after  all  the  expenses  of  production,  wages 
and  other  charges  have  been  paid? 

Carroll  D.  Wright,  whose  authority  is  great  and  whose 
independence  is  above  suspicion,  expressed  the  opinion 
that  this  strike  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  labor. 
Society,  he  said  in  a  lecture  upon  this  subject,  had  by  its 
laws  and  customs  contributed  to  the  building  up  of  the 
great  fortune  of  Mr,  Pullman.  Have  we  not  reached  the 
point,  he  asked,  where  we  ought  to  recognize  that  labor 
has  rights?  The  question  is  "  ethical  and  not  economic." 
The  thought  of  the  speaker  crystallized  in  the  proposition 


16  Even  if  the  new  contracts  did  involve  a  loss,  the  workmen  ob- 
jected, the  repairs  made  in  accordance  with  existing  contracts  were 
at  the  old  prices  and  while  the  reduction  of  25  per  cent  in  the 
piece-rate  scale  caused  a  loss  of  $60,000  to  the  workmen  in  wages, 
the  reductions  made  by  Mr.  Pullman,  in  order  to  obtain  new 
orders,  amounted  only  to  $50,000. 

47  In  a  lecture  delivered  at  New  Haven  to  the  students  of  the 
Wesleyan  University  of  Middletown,  Conn.,  Carroll  D.  Wright 
drew  a  parallel  between  the  capital  of  the  company  with  its  $26,000,- 
000  surplus  and  the  capital  of  the  workmen  with  their  $600,000 
laid  by  in  the  savings  banks;  was  it  just,  he  asked,  that  the  latter, 
relatively  so  insignificant,  should  bear  the  whole  burden  of  the 
crisis? 


254  The  American  Laborer 

that  when  a  company  wishes  to  reduce  wages  it  should 
first  show  its  books  to  a  committee  of  the  workmen. 
Otherwise  the  workmen  have  no  confidence  in  the  em- 
ployer, as  they  know  well  enough  that  although  he  is  will- 
ing to  share  the  burdens  of  hard  times,  he  is  not  usually 
very  anxious  to  share  the  profits  of  prosperity.  Moreover, 
when  the  workmen  cannot  move  their  homes  or  when  em- 
ployers have  made  an  agreement  or  understanding  between 
themselves,  it  is  untrue  that  the  workmen  derive  any  benefit 
from  competition  between  the  employers.  Col.  Wright 
dismissed  all  measures  which  would  tend  to  repress  the 
activity  of  the  individual,  but  he  demanded  the  creation  of 
a  national  strike  commission  with  powers  wide  enough  to 
educate  public  opinion,  and  hasten  the  development  of 
strikes  which  could  not  be  wholly  averted. 

The  sympathetic  strike  of  the  American  Railway  Union  and 
the  Chicago  riot. — The  strike  went  on  quietly  for  several 
weeks,  and  despite  their  irritation,  the  strikers  offered  to 
guard  the  works;  an  offer  which  was  unfortunately  sug- 
gestive of  a  similar  one  made  at  Homestead.  On  June  25, 
the  American  Railway  Union  held  a  meeting  in  Chicago 
at  which  465  unions  were  represented,  and  it  was  here 
resolved  to  declare  a  general  strike  in  sympathy  with  the 
Pullman  workmen.  This  interference,  which  shortly  after- 
wards was  endorsed  by  the  Knights  of  Labor,  transformed 
the  affair  from  a  strike  into  a  civil  war.  Under  orders 
from  the  president,  Mr.  Debs,  the  union  boycotted  Pull- 
man cars,  all  railway  employees  affiliated  with  the  union 
refusing  to  couple  or  uncouple  the  cars,  or  handle  them 
in  any  way,  so  that  their  circulation  was  rendered  impos- 
sible, The  employees  of  the  railroads  terminating  at  Chi- 
cago joined  in  the  strike,  but  the  most  important  union, 
that  of  the  engineers,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Arthur, 
refused  to  take  part. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  powerful  Railway  Managers 
Association,  which  had  been  formed  in  1886  by  the  mana- 
gers of  the  twenty-four  Chicago  terminal  lines,  and  which 


The  Strike  255 

in  1892  had  adopted  an  agreement  to  pay  uniform  wages, 
sustained  Mr.  Pullman;  they  threatened  the  employees 
with  a  lockout,  refused  to  negotiate  with  the  committee  of 
investigation  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  caused  the  arrest  of  the  leaders  of  the  sympa- 
thetic strike  who  were  released  under  heavy  bond.  The 
strikers  set  fire  to  the  exposition  buildings  and,  while  the 
fire  department  was  occupied  in  putting  out  this  fire, 
burned  cars  and  materials  belonging  to  about  twenty  dif- 
ferent companies.  Troops  occupied  the  city;  the  militia 
to  aid  the  police  in  reestablishing  order,  the  federal  troops 
to  regulate  interstate  commerce;  14,000  men  were  put  in 
movement  without  establishing  order.  Violent  disturb- 
ances occurred  throughout  the  whole  of  Illinois  and  in  a 
number  of  Western  States;  traffic  was  interrupted  not  only 
at  Chicago,  but  at  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  and 
throughout  the  West;  trains  were  stopped;  freight  yards 
were  filled  with  loaded  cars  that  could  not  be  moved;  the 
transportation  of  merchandise  and  mails  between  San 
Francisco  "  and  New  York  was  interrupted  for  fifteen  days. 
A  great  amount  of  property  was  destroyed  and  a  number 
of  persons  killed;  armed  mobs  took  possession  of  the 
trains  and  roadbed  of  railways,  and  even  organized  for  a 
march  to  Washington.  After  a  conference  of  labor 
leaders,  Mr.  Debs  obtained  the  cooperation  of  the  General 
Master  Workman  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  the  heads 
of  several  other  federations  of  labor,  and  using  their  dicta- 
torial authority  in  these  matters,  they  decided  upon  a 
gigantic  sympathetic  strike,  to  involve  not  only  the  rail- 
roads of  the  East,  which  had  not  yet  been  drawn  into  the 
fight,  but  the  great  industries  of  the  country  as  well.  This 
project  was  not  carried  out. 

In   Montana  and  Washington   strikers  drove  the  police 
back  with  guns  in  order  to  take  possession  of  trains;  in 


48  The  loss  to  California  fruit-growers  during  this  time  was  esti- 
mated at  $50,000  a  day. 


256  The  American  Laborer 

Iowa,  all  the  wagons  and  carts  of  the  farmers  were  drawn 
upon  to  transport  an  "  army  of  the  unemployed  "  to  Wash- 
ington, and  one  of  the  bands,  under  Coxey,  reached  the 
Capital.  The  situation  was  extremely  grave.  To  for- 
eigners it  seemed  graver  perhaps  than  it  really  was,  and 
French  readers,  who  got  the  facts  with  a  high  journalistic 
coloring,  might  well  have  believed  that  the  existence  of 
the  great  republic  was  in  danger. 

The  state  government  either  shirked  its  duty  or  was 
unable  to  perform  it,  but  President  Cleveland  realized  his 
responsibility,  and  although  he  was  greatly  restricted  by 
constitutional  limitations  found  authority  for  federal  in- 
terference in  the  clause  of  the  constitution  charging  the 
central  government  with  the  maintenance  of  the  postal  ser- 
vice; the  latter  had  been  interrupted  by  the  strikers. 

Martial  law  being  declared,  the  railroads  were  brought 
under  the  protection  of  the  highest  courts  and  the  federal 
government.  In  other  states  the  United  States  marshals 
gathered  posses,  prohibited  the  people  from  collecting  or 
discussing  the  strike  on  the  territory  of  the  railroads,  and 
arrested  trespassers  without  warrants  and  in  spite  of  the 
local  magistrates.  "  Pay  no  attention  to  local  officers  or 
magistrates,"  said  the  marshal  of  Colorado.  "  If  they  in- 
terfere with  you,  arrest  them."  4°  The  Governor  of  Colo- 
rado protested  against  what  he  declared  to  be  a  violation 
of  state  right.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  federal  troops 
were  employed  from  the  eighth  of  July  on,  and  both 
Houses  of  Congress  approved  the  course  of  the  President. 

After  quite  a  while  order  was  finally  reestablished.  The 
American  Railway  Union  abandoned  the  strike  in  August, 
and  towards  the  end  of  September  the  Pullman  employees 
accepted  the  reduction  of  wages  and  went  to  work.  The 
total  loss  occasioned  by  this  great  double  strike,  accord- 
ing   to    a    most    trustworthy    source — Bradstreet — was    at 

43  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  the 
State  of  Colorado,  p.  245  et  seq. 


The  Strike  257 

least  $80,000,000.  Many  strikers  were  indicted  by  the 
courts  and  some  convicted. 

During  July,  at  the  most  acute  stage  of  the  strike,  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  appointed  a  commission  of  inquiry  which 
immediately  went  to  Chicago.  More  than  one  hundred 
witnesses  were  heard,  and  the  report  of  the  chairman,  Car- 
roll D.  Wright,  was  very  severe  upon  Mr.  Pullman. 

The  report  of  the  United  States  Strike  Commission. — "  As 
a  result  of  the  Pullman  system  and  its  growth,"  says  the  re- 
port of  the  commission,  "when  the  depression  of  1893 
came,  morally  calling  for  mutual  concessions  as  to  wages, 
rents,  etc.,  we  found  on  the  one  side  a  very  wealthy  and 
unyielding  corporation,  and  upon  the  other  a  multitude  of 
employees  of  comparatively  excellent  character  and  skill, 
but  without  local  attachments  or  any  interested  respon- 
sibility in  the  town,  its  business,  tenements  or  surround- 
ings. .  .  .  The  company  does  not  recognize  that  labor 
organizations  have  any  place  or  necessity  in  Pullman, 
where  the  company  fixes  wages  and  rents,  and  refuses  to 
treat  with  labor  organizations.  The  laborer  can  work  or 
quit  on  the  terms  offered;  that  is  the  limit  of  his  rights. 
This  position  secures  all  the  advantage  of  the  concentration 
of  capital,  ability,  power  and  control  for  the  company  in 
its  labor  dealings,  and  deprives  the  employers  of  any  such 
advantage  or  protection  as  a  labor  union  might  afford.  In 
this  respect  the  Pullman  Company  is  behind  the  age."  B 

Speaking  of  this  strike  in  his  book,  The  Industrial  Evolu- 
tion (p.  317),  Col.  Wright  says  that  it  aroused  a  vast  deal 
of  bitter  feeling — so  bitter  that  neither  party  would  recog- 
nize the  rights  of  the  other — and  as  is  usually  the  case, 
each  side  employed  whatever  means  seemed  advantageous, 
without  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  public.  The  strike 
was  a  rude  lesson,  Col.  Wright  concludes,  which  should 
teach  society  to  protect  itself.  However,  it  did  not  teach 
the  Americans  to  renounce  the  strike  altogether,  as  the 

50  Report  on  the  Chicago  Strike,  pp.  22-27. 


258  The  American  Laborer 

crisis  of  1893-94  gave  rise  to  other  very  grave  strikes, 
among  which  were  the  strike  on  the  Lehigh  Valley  Rail- 
road in  December,  1893,  that  of  the  miners,  and  that  on 
the  Great  Northern  Railroad  in  April,  1894.  The  total 
number  of  strikes  in  1894,  of  which  the  results  for  the  first 
six  months  only  are  known  to  me,  probably  passed  1700. 

Opinions  and  theories  upon  the  strike  in  the  United  States. — 
In  America  many  economists  are  disposed  to  hold  that 
the  strike  is  the  most  practical  means  by  which  the  labor- 
ing class  can  enforce  their  claims.  They  condemn  vio- 
lence, but  this,  they  hold,  is  more  often  due  to  vagabonds 
than  workmen. 

Professor  Ely,  one  of  the  leaders  of  a  recent  school  with 
leanings  towards  state  socialism,  expresses  himself  as  fol- 
lows in  a  work  which  has  become  classic:  "Strikes  pro- 
duce harm,  and  every  effort  should  be  made  to  avoid  them. 
They  are,  however,  successful  in  more  cases  than  is  ordi- 
narily supposed,  and  when  occasionally  a  decided  victory 
is  scored  the  gain  is  immense.  An  agitation  of  a  few 
weeks  and  a  strike  of  a  few  days,  together  with  an  act  of 
legislature,  established  a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor 
from  seventeen  to  twelve  for  the  hundreds  of  street-car  em- 
ployees in  Baltimore.  This  is  probably  an  advantage  per- 
manently secured.  Other  illustrations  might  be  given,  and 
nothing  is  gained  by  shutting  our  eyes  to  such  facts."  " 

But  employers  think  otherwise,  the  American  like  the 
European.  They  like  neither  combinations,  strikes,  nor 
the  unions  which  foster  strikes,  and  they  endeavor  to  free 
themselves  by  substituting  machinery  for  labor  wherever 
it  is  possible.  The  chief  of  the  bureau  of  industrial  sta- 
tistics of  Pennsylvania  in  1893,  Mr.  Bolles,  remarked  that 
many  of  the  inventions  of  the  preceding  fifteen  years  had 
been  due  to  strikes  and  other  difficulties  caused  by  work- 
men.52 


51  Outlines  of  Economics,  p.    191. 
1  Industrial  Statistics,  Pennsylvania,  1893,  D.  29. 


The  Strike  259 

In  the  Boston  salons,  as  well  as  in  those  of  Paris,  regret 
is  expressed  for  the  situation  in  which  manufacturers  are 
placed  by  the  strike  and  the  opinion  is  often  heard  that  the 
people  have  become  ungovernable  and  their  minds  per- 
verted; that  the  strike  will  ruin  industry.  This  is  why 
great  manufacturers  refuse  to  employ  workmen  affiliated 
with  a  union.  They  may  be  debarred  as  judges,  because 
they  are  too  interested  in  maintaining  their  own  supremacy 
to  be  impartial;  but  they  must  be  heard  as  witnesses  be- 
cause they  represent  an  important  current  of  opinion  and 
have  had  personal  experience  in  these  matters. 

Carroll  D.  Wright  thinks  that  the  responsibility  for 
strikes  rests  as  much  upon  the  employers  as  the  employees. 
Testifying  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Education  and 
Labor  in  1883,  he  asserted  that  in  general  neither  side  was 
disinterested  enough  to  discern  the  truth.  "  But  this  much 
is  true,  that  when  the  wage  receivers  are  satisfied  of  the 
moral  integrity  of  their  employers  in  the  conduct  of  the 
affairs  of  the  establishment  they  accept  the  situation  asked 
of  them  generously  and  loyally.  .  .  .  The  truth  may  be 
presented  to  a  man  in  such  a  way  as  to  antagonize  him; 
and  on  the  other  hand  it  may  be  presented  to  him  in  such 
a  way  as  to  win  his  support.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  hu- 
man nature  on  both  sides  of  the  question.  The  fault  I  find 
with  managers  of  establishments  where  strikes  have  oc- 
curred is  that  they  consider  human  nature  to  be  about  all 
on  one  side,  and  not  to  be  recognized  as  existing  on 
both."  BS 

There  is  much  truth  in  these  remarks,  but  we  must  be- 
ware of  generalities;  in  this  as  in  many  other  matters,  the 
absolute,  which  takes  no  notice  of  the  complexity  of  hu- 
man affairs,  is  sure  to  lose  itself  in  some  Utopia.  There 
undoubtedly  are  employers  who  have  the  art  of  conciliat- 
ing their  personnel;  illustrations  might  be  supplied  from 
the   investigation   just   mentioned.     But   is   there  a   single 

53  Labor  and  Capital,  iii,  420. 


260  The  American  Laborer 

employer  who  can  be  sure  that  he  is  completely  beyond  the 
danger  of  strikes? 

A  few  ivords  upon  the  relation  between  wages  and  profits. — 
The  fundamental  theory  of  Mr.  Wright  is  that  wages  should 
be  proportional  to  profits  and  vary  with  them ; M  the  idea 
is  seductive,  as  it  seems  to  realize  the  ideals  of  justice,  but 
it  is  not  the  true  theory  of  wages.  The  wage-earner  is 
very  different  from  the  entrepreneur:  he  has  not  the  same 
chance  of  gain  because  he  does  not  run  the  same  risks. 

This  theory  was  discussed  in  the  Senate  investigation 
just  mentioned.  A  witness  who  had  been  engaged  in  the 
woolen  industry  for  twenty  years  admitted  that  one  of  the 
most  frequent  causes  of  strikes  was  the  opinion  of  work- 
men that  their  wages  were  not  proportioned  to  the  value 
produced  by  their  labor.  But  they  are  often  deceived,  he 
added;  a  mill  may  be  very  actively  employed  and  yet  not 
be  making  money.  American  workmen,  he  thought,  were 
not  so  well  informed  upon  the  profits  of  manufacturing  as 
the  English  workmen,  whose  trades-unions  were  much  more 
advanced.  Col.  Wright's  estimate  that  the  manufacturers 
of  Massachusetts  had  made  10  per  cent  profit  in  the  pre- 
vious year,  after  making  every  allowance  for  preserving 
and  maintaining  the  plant  and  paying  all  expenses  of  pro- 
duction, including  six  per  cent  interest  on  capital,  the 
witness  thought  excessive;  no  such  calculation,  he  stated, 
could  be  safely  made;  in  any  event,  the  workman  had  had 
a  generous  share  in  the  progress  made  since  1862.°° 

The  level  of  wages  may  be  closely  connected  with  the 
general  productivity  of  industry,  but  it  is  not  a  function  of 
productivity,  especially  when  productivity  is  measured  by 
the    gain    of   some   one    establishment,    or    the    temporary 

M  Mr.  Wright  expressed  this  thought  in  his  first  report  as  Com- 
missioner of  Labor  (Industrial  Depressions,  p.  293):  "Public 
opinion  can  .  .  .  demand  that  after  capital  and  labor  shall  have 
received  fixed  and  reasonable  compensation,  each  for  its  invest- 
ment, the  net  profits  of  production  shall  be  divided  under  profit- 
sharing  plans  or  methods,  or  through  industrial  copartnership.  .  .  ." 

55  Labor  and  Capital,  iii,  p.  438  et  seq. 


The  Strike  261 

profits  in  some  particular  industry.  Wages  are  relatively 
stable  compared  with  profits,  which  are  speculative  in 
nature;  the  former  precede  or  accompany  production,  while 
the  latter  follow  the  sale  or,  more  correctly,  the  payment, 
and  at  the  moment  of  production  both  sale  and  payment 
are  uncertain.  Out  of  a  thousand  manufacturers  who,  at 
the  same  time  and  in  the  same  country,  make  and  sell 
practically  the  same  articles,  there  are  from  twenty  to  forty 
perhaps  who  make  fortunes,  hundreds  who  just  hold  their 
own,  and  a  large  number  who  completely  fail;  yet  all  of 
them  pay  the  same  wages.  Shall  those  who  fail  demand 
that  their  employees  work  for  nothing?  Since  we  cannot 
admit  this  proposition,  why  admit  that  the  employees  of 
those  who  prosper  have  a  right  to  a  part  of  the  ultimate 
profits?  The  employees  of  both  classes  have  sold  their 
labor  at  the  market  price,  and  this  was  practically  the  same 
in  all  establishments;  the  probable  regulation  of  their  labor 
by  machinery  only  secured  its  more  equal  and  conscientious 
application. 

Whence  arise  the  differences  of  result?  Evidently  in  the 
skill  or  fortune  of  the  entrepreneur.  To  whom,  then,  does 
the  profit  legitimately  belong?  The  profit  is  ordinarily  un- 
certain and  indeterminate  until  after  a  purchaser  has  been 
found  and  payment  received.  But  the  workman  receives 
his  part  in  advance,  the  amount  being  determined  when 
the  wage-contract  was  made,  and  that  was  the  time  when 
he  should  have  exploited  his  personal  value.  He  is  justi- 
fied in  employing  organization,  as  Col.  Wright  advises  him 
to  do,  in  order  to  maintain  his  own  interests  and  secure  a 
higher  valuation  upon  his  industrial  worth.  But  when  he 
has  accepted  the  contract  he  has  no  right  of  action  until 
the  contract  expires,  just  as  the  employer  has  no  right  of 
recovery  upon  the  wages  of  his  workmen  when  his  opera- 
tions result  in  a  loss.  This  does  not  imply  in  the  least  that 
the  benevolent  and  far-sighted  employer,  in  times  of  pros- 
perity, will  not  make  it  advantageous  to  his  employees  to 
interest  themselves  in  the  continued  prosperity  of  his  estab- 


262  The  American  Laborer 

lishment.  But  the  present  section  is  devoted  to  the  rights 
of  the  wage-earner,  not  to  the  liberality  of  the  far-sighted 
entrepreneur.56 

The  strike  is  one  of  the  means  employed  by  workmen  to 
secure  a  favorable  wage-contract.  We  may  attempt  to 
persuade  them  to  use  it  with  great  caution,  not  to  be  led 
away  by  sudden  impulses,  to  examine  carefully  whether 
they  are  not  misinformed  by  interested  leaders,  and  we  may 
show  them  the  cost  of  defeat  or  even  of  victory.  But  in 
the  existing  state  of  institutions  and  customs,  they  cannot 
be  denied  the  right  of  employing  it,  just  as  in  the  political 
sphere,  nations  cannot  be  denied  the  right  of  waging  war. 

The  regulation  of  strikes  upon  railways  and  tlie  anti-trust 
act. — Strikes  upon  railroads  have  seemed  graver  to  Ameri- 
cans than  strikes  in  other  industries,  because  they  interrupt 
transportation  and  thus  disarrange  the  whole  economic 
movement  of  the  country.  This  feeling  has  prompted 
several  states  to  pass  special  statutes  upon  such  strikes. 
Thus,  the  explanatory  preamble  of  the  law  passed  in  Dela- 
ware upon  this  subject  in  1877  reads:  "Whereas,  strikes 
by  locomotive  engineers  and  other  railroad  employees,  and 
the  abandonment  by  them  of  their  engines  and  trains  at 
points  other  than  their  schedule  destination,  whereby  the 
safety  of  the  passenger  is  often  jeoparded,  and  shippers  of 
fruits  and  other  freights  are  subjected  to  great  incon- 
venience, delay  and  possible  loss,  have  lately  become  so 
frequent  and  extensive  as  to  render  it  imperative  that  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  public  should  be  guarded  and 
protected  in  this  respect  by  some  proper  legislation.  Now, 
therefore,  be  it  enacted,  etc."  This  law  inflicts  a  fine  of 
from  $100  to  $500  and  imprisonment  for  a  term  not  less 
than  six  months  upon  every  engineer  or  conductor  who 
violates  its  provisions;  upon  every  employee  who  in  a 
sympathetic  strike  or  boycott  refuses  to  handle  the  cars  of 
another  company;  and  upon  every  person  who  obstructs 

"  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  ch.  iv,  pt.  iii. 


The  Strike  263 

a  railroad  track  or  injures  or  destroys  the  rolling  stock,  or 
other  property  of  a  railroad  company.67 

Similar  laws,  with  some  differences  of  detail,  are  found 
in  Illinois,  Kansas,  Maine,  Mississippi,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania.58 

Congress  has  also  legislated  upon  this  subject;  being 
charged  with  the  regulation  of  interstate  commerce,  it 
decided  that  means  should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  interrup- 
tion by  railway  strikes  of  the  transportation  between  the 
several  states  of  persons,  goods  and  mails.  The  Interstate 
Commerce  Act,  passed  in  1887  and  amended  in  1889,  gave 
federal  authorities  the  power  to  regulate  unreasonable  rates, 
prohibit  special  advantages  to  favored  individuals,  and  pre- 
vent in  general  all  obstruction  of  interstate  transportation. 
Strikes  of  railway  employees  are  thus  brought  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  federal  courts.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  the 
United  States  vs.  Cassidy  et  ah,  in  the  United  States  Court 
for  the  Northern  District  of  California,  in  1895,  the  court 
said:  "A  strike,  or  a  preconcerted  quitting  of  work,  by  a 
combination  of  railroad  employees,  is,  in  itself,  unlawful, 
if  the  concerted  action  is  knowingly  and  willfully  directed 
by  the  parties  to  it  for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  and 
retarding  the  passage  of  the  mails,  or  in  restraint  of  trade 
and  commerce  among  the  states."  w 

The  Anti-trust  Act  of  1890  has  greatly  augmented  the 
power  of  the  courts  in  this  matter.  It  provides  that  every 
contract,  combination  in  the  form  of  trust  or  otherwise,  or 
conspiracy  in  restraint  of  trade  or  commerce  among  the 
several  states,  is  illegal  and  punishable  as  a  misdemeanor. 
This  law,  which  was  primarily  aimed  at  combinations  of 
producers,  has  been  extended  so  as  to  cover  combinations 

"Laws  of  Delaware,  vol.  15,  ch.  481. 

03  Mississippi  must  now  be  added  to  this  list.  References  to  the 
latest  statutes  upon  this  subject  may  be  found  in  the  Report  of  the 
Industrial  Commission  on  Labor  Legislation,  pp.  132-134.  See  also 
the  Second  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the  United 
States,  title  "  Strikes  of  Railroad  Employees."     [Tr.] 

50  Labor  Laws,  second  edition,  p.  1346.     See  also  pp.  1348,  1353. 


264  The  American  Laborer 

of  railroad  employees."0  It  was  under  this  law  that  Mr. 
Debs,  the  leader  of  the  railway  employees  in  the  Chicago 
strike,  was  summoned  before  the  court. 

The  laborers  have  never  acquiesced  in  this  legisla- 
tion; they  fail  to  understand  why,  if  they  have  a  right  to 
strike,  the  right  does  not  exist  in  all  relations  between 
employees  and  employers.  The  argument  is  not  without 
force,  but  it  should  be  completed  by  the  statement  that 
responsibility,  like  the  strike,  is  a  logical  consequence  of 
the  freedom  of  labor;  in  consequence,  when  strikers  who 
have  contracted  to  work  for  a  given  time  jeopardize  the 
lives  of  travelers  or  damage  the  property  of  third  parties 
by  deserting  their  posts,  they  should  be  compelled  to  make 
pecuniary  restitution.  As  it  is  ordinarily  impossible  to 
obtain  damages  from  workmen,  it  has  been  thought  neces- 
sary, in  the  general  interest,  to  protect  such  an  important 
social  service  by  preventive  measures  and  by  corporal 
penalties  directed  against  those  who  obstruct  it. 

The  variation  of  American  legislation  upon  combination. — 
The  American  laws  upon  combination  are  not  uniform,  and 
they  have  been  modified  by  time;  the  attitude  of  the  courts 
in  the  last  seventy-five  years  has  changed  more  than  the 
laws.  But  public  opinion  in  the  United  States  seems  never 
to  have  been  strongly  pronounced  against  strikes,61  as  the 
testimony  of  Michel  Chevalier  proves.  And  yet,  scarcely 
fifty  years  have  passed  since  judges  in  the  United  States, 
as  in  England,  classed  strikes  in  the  category  of  conspira- 
cies and  punished  strikers  as  conspirators.62 


60  See  Labor  Lazvs,  second  edition,  pp.  1348.  1353. 

01  Mr.  Bolles,  in  his  Chapters  in  Political  Economy,  published  at 
New  York  in  1874,  said:  "  So  far  as  the  National  and  State  Gov- 
ernments are  concerned,  workmen  have  no  just  cause  of  complaint. 
They  have  always  been  placed  upon  the  same  footing  as  the  capi- 
talist, and  have  enjoyed  the  unquestioned  right  to  form  trade- 
union  societies." 

"  An  English  law  of  1799  declared  "  contracts  entered  into  for 
obtaining  an  advance  of  wages,  for  altering  the  usual  time  for 
working  .  .  .  illegal,  null  and  void."  The  laws  against  combina- 
tion began  to  be  repealed  about  1825. 


The  Strike  265 

In  1806,  in  an  action  brought  against  a  number  of 
journeymen  shoemakers  in  Philadelphia,  the  recorder  said: 
"  A  combination  of  workmen  to  raise  wages  may  be 
considered  in  a  twofold  point  of  view:  one  is  to  benefit 
themselves,  the  other  is  to  injure  those  who  do  not  join 
their  society.  The  rule  of  law  condemns  both." e  The 
jury  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty.  In  another  case  at  Pitts- 
burg, in  1815,  the  presiding  judge  instructed  the  jury  that 
it  was  lawful  for  an  individual  to  fix  what  price  he  pleased 
on  his  labor,  but  that  to  extort  this  price  by  combination 
was  a  criminal  conspiracy;  the  jury  convicted  the  prisoners. 

In  1823  the  master  hatters  of  New  York  formed  an  agree- 
ment to  employ  no  workman  who  had  left  his  last  position 
on  account  of  wages.  The  workmen  responded  by  organ- 
izing a  society  whose  members  were  pledged  not  to  work  in 
any  factory  employing  workmen  at  rates  inferior  to  those 
of  a  wage-scale  adopted  by  the  society.  This  was  carried 
out,  but  those  who  struck  were  arrested  on  the  charge  of 
having  caused  the  discharge  of  another  workman,  and 
were  declared  by  the  jury  guilty  of  conspiracy.04 

Says  an  American  author  in  a  recent  work  upon  strikes 
and  lockouts:  "  The  history  of  labor  from  the  earliest  time 
shows  that  workmen  had  practically  no  rights  at  all.  .  .  . 
Therefore  it  is  not  astonishing  in  the  light  of  this  history 
that  the  common  law  made  a  mere  conspiracy  criminal."  ' 
But  mere  combination  has  now  become  entirely  legal,  even 
in  states  which  have  no  special  law  upon  the  subject. 
Thus,  in  Pennsylvania:  "  It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  laborer 
or  laborers,  workingman  or  workingmen,  journeyman  or 
journeymen,  acting  either  as  individuals  or  as  members  of 
any  club,  society  or  association,  to  refuse  to  work  or  labor 
for  any  person  or  persons,  whenever,  in  his,  her  or  their 
opinion,  the  wages  paid  are  insufficient,  or  the  treatment  of 


f°  Cogley  on  Strikes  and  Lockouts,  p.  47. 
e*  First  Biennial  Report,  Colorado,  p.  45. 

"  Tlie  Law  of  Strikes,  Lockouts  and  Labor  Organizations,  by  Thomas 
S.  Cogley,  Washington,   1894,  P-  98. 


266  The  American  Laborer 

such  laborer  or  laborers,  workingman  or  workingmen, 
journeyman  or  journeymen,  by  his,  her  or  their  employer 
is  brutal  or  offensive,  or  the  continued  labor  by  such  laborer 
or  laborers,  workingman  or  workingmen,  journeyman  or 
journeymen,  would  be  contrary  to  the  rules,  regulations  or 
by-laws  of  any  [lawful]  club,  society  or  organization  to 
which  he,  she,  or  they  might  belong,  without  subjecting 
any  person  or  persons  so  refusing  to  work  or  labor  to  prose- 
cution or  indictment  for  conspiracy,  under  the  criminal  laws 
of  this  commonwealth."  ee 

The  state  of  New  York  passed  a  law  as  early  as  1870 
in  which  workmen  were  expressly  permitted  to  assemble 
peaceably  with  the  object  of  obtaining  higher  wages;  and 
in  1883,  in  a  revision  of  the  penal  code,  peaceable  combina- 
tion was  legalized,  although  penalties  were  prescribed  for 
violence,  actual  or  threatened.  Almost  exactly  the  same 
law  was  adopted  by  Minnesota  in  1886,  and  at  short  in- 
tervals afterwards  by  New  Jersey,  West  Virginia,  Mary- 
land and  Colorado.  A  large  number  of  states,  such  as 
Connecticut,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  confine  themselves 
to  penalizing  violence,  threats  and  intimidations,  without 
expressly  legalizing  combinations  of  workmen;  while  in 
some  states  boycotting  and  blacklisting  are  specially  desig- 
nated as  illegal.  North  Dakota  confers  upon  the  com- 
missioner of  labor  the  power  of  acting  as  arbiter  when 
called  upon  in  labor  disputes.67 

All  these  laws  are  of  recent  date ;  they  have  resulted  from 
the  labor  movement  which  has  taken  place  in  the  last 
twenty  years.  They  have  not  yet  secured  a  place  in  the 
code  of  every  state,  but  it  would  be  wholly  wrong  to  infer, 
as  do  some  of  the  publicists  of  the  labor  party,  that  com- 
bination is  illegal  where  it  is  not  expressly  authorized  by 
law.48     Arrests  may  be  made   in   connection  with   strikes 

M  Brightly 's  Pur  don's  Digest.  12th  Edition,  p.  2017. 

87  See  the  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  entitled  Labor 
Lazes,  second  edition. 

68  See  a  reflection  of  this  opinion  in  the  Rapports  dc  la  delegation 
ouvriere  a  V Exposition  dc  Chicago,  p.  380.  Mr.  Stimson  in  his  Hand- 
book to  the  Labor  Lazv  of  the  United  States  says  of  strikes,  p.  194: 


The  Strike  267 

which  may  or  may  not  be  justified;  the  court  decides.  But 
the  mere  fact  of  association,  permanent  or  temporary,  or 
of  combination  to  obtain  an  end,  is  so  regarded  by  the 
American  mind  that  there  is  no  need  to-day  of  a  written 
law  to  legalize  strikes.  "  Twenty  years  ago,"  said  J.  W. 
Sullivan,  a  delegate  from  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  to  the  Trades  Union  Congress,  held  in  England,  in 
1896,  "  the  courts  punished  conspiracy  by  virtue  of  laws 
which  have  to-day  lost  most  of  their  force,  except  in  a 
small  number  of  states.  In  general,  our  combinations  have 
ceased  to  be  illegal;  strikers  in  ordinary  cases  are  no  longer 
conspirators." 

As  in  all  questions  of  fact,  there  are  still  doubtful  points  ** 
upon  which  the  law  is  uncertain.  But  the  right  to  combine 
is  no  longer  in  doubt.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  matters, 
American  courts  and  legislatures  have  followed  English 
precedent.  "  It  is  just  as  evident,"  says  Mr.  Bolles,  "  that 
laborers  have  a  right  to  combine  in  order  to  get  their  dues, 
as  capitalists  have  to  combine  for  the  purpose  of  resisting 
an  advance  of  wages."  T0  But  in  the  exercise  of  this  right 
workmen  must  be  careful  not  to  violate  a  superior  right — 
that  of  individual  liberty.  In  protecting  the  latter,  many 
states  have  passed  special  laws  against  preventing  persons 
by  force  or  threats  from  continuing  to  work  for  another 
person.71 

"  There  is  no  subject  connected  with  labor  law  about  which  there 
has  been  so  much  disagreement  among  judges  and  jurists,  and 
about  which  there  is  still  so  much  doubt.  A  recent  text-book 
upon  strikes  and  boycotts  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  there  can  be 
no  such  thing  as  a  legal  strike.  The  truth  is  probably  the  exact 
opposite.  Instead  of  saying  no  strikes  are  legal,  we  should  now 
say  all  strikes  are  legal.  •  .  ." 

80  Mr.  Stimson  treats  several  in  his  Handbook.  Thus,  it  is  unde- 
cided whether  workmen  who  break  a  contract  with  their  employer 
to  go  on  a  strike  are  liable  in  damages  (Mr.  Stimson  thinks  they 
are),  and  whether  a  sympathetic  strike  is  illegal  or  not,  combina- 
tion of  this  kind  not  having  for  its  object  a  direct  advantage  to 
those  who  combine. 

70  Chapters  in  Political  Economy,  by  A.  S.  Bolles,  p.  30. 

71  See  Stimson's  Handbook,  p.  24,  and  the  Report  of  the  Industrial 
Commission  on  Labor  Legislation,  pp.  130-132. 


268  The  American  Laborer 

Mr.  Cogley,  after  having  described  the  legislation  of  the 
principal  states  upon  this  subject,  concludes  by  saying: 
"  It  may,  therefore,  be  laid  down  as  a  general  rule  in  the 
United  States,  that  employees  have  the  right,  either  singly 
or  in  bodies,  to  quit  their  employment,. provided  they  do 
so  peaceably,  and,  in  doing  so,  do  not  violate  their  con- 
tracts with  their  employers.  But  that  if  in  quitting  their 
employment,  they  either  singly  or  in  combination  resort  to 
violence  to  the  person  or  property  of  either  employer  or  co- 
employees  or  persons  seeking  employment,  or  by  threats, 
intimidation  in  any  form,  molestation,  obstruction,  or  inter- 
ference, to  compel  an  employer  to  increase  their  wages,  to 
alter  his  mode  of  carrying  on  his  business,  to  discharge 
employees,  to  employ  those  he  does  not  wish  to  employ,  or 
to  compel,  against  their  will,  employees  to  quit  their  em- 
ployment, or  to  prevent  those  seeking  work  from  accepting 
employment,  to  join  a  club  or  association  they  do  not  wish 
to  join,  then  their  acts  are  illegal,  and  they  become  liable 
criminally.  Violence  and  intimidation  are  abhorrent  to  the 
law,  and  the  moment  they  taint  the  acts  and  purposes  of 
employees,  that  moment  their  acts  and  purposes  become 
unlawful."  " 

Carroll  D.  Wright  expresses  his  opinion  in  these  words: 
"  Peaceable  organization  for  peaceable  and  lawful  purposes 
is  no  longer  conspiracy."  ™  Yet  there  is  one  exception  to 
this,  as  we  have  seen  above,  that  of  railway  employees. 

The  persistancc  of  the  strike. — Like  war,  the  strike  is  an 
evil.  Dreamers  like  Bellamy  may  imagine  a  society  in 
which  a  perpetual  and  fraternal  harmony  prevails,  where 
men  are  content  with  their  lot  and  the  strike  forever  aban- 
doned. But  in  real  society,  with  its  selfish  interests  and 
human  passions,  the  strike,  it  may  be  asserted,  will  not 
disappear.  For  a  certain  time,  at  least,  there  is  more  likeli- 
hood of  an  increase  than  of  a  decrease  in  strikes. 

Combination,  that  is  to  say,  the  collective  action  of  work- 

71  Cogley,  op.  cit.,  p.  264.  "  The  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  286. 


The  Strike  269 

men,  with  the  object  of  obtaining  the  most  suitable  condi- 
tions upon  which  to  dispose  of  their  labor,  is  a  right,  and 
the  strike,  that  is  to  say  the  concerted  refusal  to  work,  is  a 
consequence  of  this  right. 

The  laboring  classes  have  become  a  power,  particularly 
in  democratic  governments  like  the  United  States.  It 
would  be  well-nigh  impossible  to  deny  them  a  right;  it  is 
enough  if  they  are  prevented  from  encroaching  upon  the 
rest  of  society.  They  are  strongly  organized  in  associa- 
tions of  which  but  few  existed  in  former  times,  and  the 
number  and  power  of  these  associations  will  probably  con- 
tinue to  increase.  Experience  has  taught  them  that 
although  the  strike  is  sometimes  costly  it  occasionally  suc- 
ceeds, and  like  all  who  play  at  games  of  chance,  they 
firmly  believe  when  the  game  is  on  that  luck  is  with  them. 
Official  statistics  show  that  about  forty-five  strikes  out  of 
every  hundred  succeed  in  America,  and  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  in  France,  but  the  labor  leaders  hold  out  much 
more  encouraging  results  than  this.  Mr.  Gompers,  for 
example,  in  his  report  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  in  1890,  announced  that  1163  strikes  had 
been  authorized  by  the  Federation,  of  which  989  had  suc- 
ceeded, 98  resulted  in  a  compromise,  and  only  76  failed.7* 

The  laboring  classes  are  in  general  better  off  than  they 
have  ever  been,  and  they  are  particularly  well  paid  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  undeniable  that  strikes  are  carried  on, 
in  general,  not  by  the  weaker  classes,  but  by  the  higher 
classes  of  workmen,  and  it  is  not  hopeless  misery,  as- 
General  Walker  asserted,75  but  increasing  ambition  that 
causes  them. 

Some  of  the  leaders  who  incite  and  guide  the  laboring 
classes  sincerely  believe  that  the  latter  are  victims  of  a  cruel 
and  unequal  contract  from  which  they  should  emancipate 
themselves  by  vigorous  action,  while  others  merely  seek 
support  for  their  own  ambitions.  Neither  species  of  leader 
will  be  absent  in  the  future. 


Report  of  the  Proceedings,  p.  14. 

Publications  of  the  American  Economic  Association,  vol.  iii.  p.  14. 
19 


270  The  American  Laborer 

Boycotts  and  blacklisting,  justly  prohibited  in  some 
states,  and  the  sympathetic  strike,  which  is  a  perverted 
form  of  the  strike  as  it  is  not  a  combination  of  persons  to 
defend  in  common  their  particular  interests,  are  in  reality 
extensions  of  the  principle  of  combination  which  workmen 
will  not  easily  renounce  because  of  their  extreme  effective- 
ness, just  as  states  have  never  ceased  to  contract  offensive 
and  defensive  alliances.  But  they  are  evidently  excesses 
that  infringe  the  liberty  of  some  to  satisfy  the  passions  of 
others;  blacklisting,  particularly,  which  crushes  the  victim 
while  it  costs  the  persecutor  nothing,  seems  to  me  especi- 
ally reprehensible.  It  is  well  that  law  and  custom  repress 
these  abuses,  but  when  there  is  no  superior  power  which 
can  decide  in  the  name  of  justice  and  enforce  its  decision, 
the  only  resort  is  force,  and  to  acquire  power  each  party 
gathers  all  the  resources  it  can  command  either  of  itself 
or  from  its  friends.  The  law  in  America  permits  free 
speech,  and  custom  would  not  now  allow  any  authority  to 
shackle  it. 

Distinguished  economists  have  tried  to  show  that  the 
state  of  wealth  of  a  country  being  given,  the  strike  can  give 
nothing  to  one  class  of  laborers  that  it  does  not  take  from 
other  classes.  But  it  is  impossible  to  prove  scientifically 
that  wages  figure  in  the  cost  of  production  or  that  the 
increment  to  wages  must  come  from  the  general  fund  of 
wages  rather  than  the  fund  of  profits.  And  in  spite  of 
their  talk  about  solidarity,  the  labor-unions  pursue  their 
own  ends  in  America  without  disturbing  themselves  about 
what  will  be  left  of  the  wage-fund  for  others — assuming 
that  there  is  a  definite  fund  of  this  sort;  they  are  satisfied 
for  the  time,  they  say,  when  they  have  obtained  the  specific 
concession  they  demanded. 

Statistics  of  strikes  in  France  and  England. — In  the  new 
world,  as  in  the  old,  the  strike  has  become  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  modern  industry,  in  the  same  way  that  disease  is  a 
condition  of  human  life.  I  shall  not  compare  it  to  the  tunic 
of  Nessus,  because  I  do  not  believe  that  industry  will  perish 


The  Strike  271 

from  the  suffering  it  inflicts  upon  capital;  but  it  is  a  de- 
structive pest  which  must  be  continually  fought,  one  whose 
activity  seems  the  more  intense  as  the  democracy  of  the 
country  is  more  powerful 70  and  the  development  of  great 
industries  the  more  advanced. 

In  France,  the  number  of  strikes  of  which  the  adminis- 
tration has  knowledge77  has  greatly  increased.  In  twelve 
years  the  average  annual  number  increased  from  131  to 
368,  while  in  1893  there  were  634  with  170,000  strikers;  in 
1894,  however,  there  were  only  391  strikes  and  54,576 
strikers.78  In  the  latter  year,  21  per  cent  succeeded,  33  were 
compromised,  and  the  rest  failed.79 

In  the  United  Kingdom  more  than  500  strikes  have  been 
recorded  by  the  Board  of  Trade  in  every  year  since  1888, 
the  great  majority  being  in  the  building  trades,  mines  and 
quarrying,  and  the  metallurgical  and  textile  industries;  in 
1889  the  number  rose  to  121 1,  involving  360,000  persons.*0 

78  Here  again  it  is  necessary  to  beware  of  generalizations:  strikes 
are  relatively  scarce  in  Switzerland. 

77  The  average  estimate  of  18  strikes  a  year,  from  1856  to  1870 
(see  Annnaire  Statistique  de  la  France,  1892-1894,  p.  416),  is  in- 
sufficient, as  from  1853  to  1862  the  ministere  public  prosecuted 
749  combinations  of  workmen  and  89  combinations  of  employers. 
See  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvrieres  en  France,  by  E.  Levasseur,  ii,  333. 

78  More  than  fifty  per  cent  were  carried  on  by  groups  of  more 
than  100  workmen.  The  mean  duration  may  be  estimated  at  fifteen 
days;  in  1894  six  lasted  more  tnan  100  days.  See  the  publication 
of  the  Office  du  Travail:  Statistique  des  Greves,  and  the  Etude  sur 
les  Coalitions  et  les  Greves,  by  M.  Crouzel. 

79  In  1898  there  were  368  strikes,  of  which  20.4  succeeded;  46.2 
failed,  and  33.4  were  compromised.  82,065  strikers  were  involved 
and  the  time  lost  amounted  to  1,216,306  days,  or  about  15  days  for 
each  workman  involved  (5900  workmen  being  thrown  out  who 
were  not  strikers).  242  out  of  the  368  strikes  lasted  not  more  than 
one  week.     Statisque  des  Greves  for  1898,  pp.  7-9.     [Tr.] 

80  Out  of  721  strikes  in  1899  (preliminary  results),  177  were  in  the 
building  trades;  no  in  mining  and  quarrying;  145  in  the  metal, 
engineering  and  shipbuilding  trades;  and  121  in  the  textile  trades. 
In  English  official  statistics  no  labor  dispute  is  counted  which  in- 
volved less  than  ten  work-people,  or  which  lasted  less  than  one 
day,  except  when  the  aggregate  duration  exceeded  100  working 
days.  See  Sixth  Annual  Abstract  of  Labor  Statistics  of  the  United 
Kingdom,    p.    58    et    seq.     [Tr.] 


2?2  The  American  Laborer 

Although  in  1893  there  were  only  782  (strikes  and  lock- 
outs), 636,000  persons  were  involved  owing  to  the  strike  of 
the  coal  miners,  in  which  500,000  persons  participated.81 
Since  1888,  in  more  than  one-third  of  the  cases  (from  31  to 
48  per  cent),  the  result  has  been  favorable  to  the  workmen, 
while  in  about  twenty-five  per  cent  a  compromise  has  been 
effected.82  In  1893  it  was  officially  estimated  that  the  loss 
in  wages — so  far  as  this  could  be  estimated  for  215,000 
strikers — was  1,849,000  pounds  sterling,  to  which  should 
be  added  the  expenditures  of  the  trades-unions  in  support- 
ing the  strikes.  Mr.  Giffen  observed  that  although  this 
amount  was  very  large,  it  represented  scarcely  one  per 
cent  of  the  total  annual  wages,  and  while  the  strikers  often 
have  to  submit  to  a  reduction  of  wages  after  the  strike, 
they  frequently  obtain  an  increase.  Mr.  Burnett  has  esti- 
mated the  reductions  in  1893  at  320  pounds  a  week  and 
the  advances  at  8182  pounds.83 

There  have  been  strikes  in  England  in  which  people  were 
wounded  and  killed,  but  the  trades-unions  have  been  edu- 
cated beyond  violence  or  at  least  have  rendered  it  much 
less  common.  The  English  strike  of  to-day  is  ordinarily 
peaceable,  as  is  shown  by  the  strike  of  the  cotton  operators 
in  1892-93,  which  threw  120,000  people  out  of  work  for 
four  months,  but  aroused  no  disorder  and  was  terminated 
by  an  amicable  agreement.  The  old  trades-unions  have  be- 
come convinced  that  the  multiplication  of  strikes  is  preju- 
dicial to  the  prosperity  of  England :  in  the  separate  congress 
which  they  held  at  Newcastle  in  1895  m  opposition  to  the 
general  congress  of  that  year,  it  was  resolved  as  the  opinion 

S1  Out  of  the  115.397  work  people  affected  in  1899.  more  than 
one-half  lived  in  Scotland  (60,165)  and  Wales  and  Monmouthshire 
552).     Ibid.,  p.  61. 

"2  The  proportion  of  compromises  has  varied  from  17  to  3*4  per 
cent;  that  of  failures  from  17.3  to  35.5  per  cent;  that  of  indefinite 
or  unsettled  cases  from  7.9  to  18.4  per  cent.  Ibid.,  p.  60,  and  Report 
on  the  Work  of  the  Labor  Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade.  1893-94. 

w  See  Fifth  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  of  Labor,  p.  39,  and 
Report  by  the  Chief  Labor  Correspondent  on  the  Strikes  and  Lockouts 
of  1893,  P-  58. 


The  Strike  273 

of  the  congress  that  the  time  had  come  when  a  national 
agreement  should  be  established  between  employers  and 
employees,  of  such  a  nature  as  to  prevent  the  decay  of 
British  industry  which,  in  consequence  of  strikes,  it  was 
stated,  was  passing  into  the  hands  of  foreign  competitors. 

The  question  of  remedies. — There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
destructive  upheavals  produced  by  strikes  entail  a  great 
waste  of  the  national  wealth.  But,  surely,  something  more 
can  be  done  than  to  stand  by  in  open-mouthed  helplessness 
and  prophesy  the  increasing  number  and  seriousness  of 
these  economic  drains.  I  do  not  wish  to  foster  the  vain 
hope  that  the  evil  may  be  abolished  by  law.  But  I  cannot 
endorse  a  policy  of  indifference.  I  shall  speak  in  another 
chapter  of  preventatives  such  as  profit-sharing  and  of 
regulators  such  as  the  labor-union.  As  for  the  strike  it- 
self, I  believe  that  the  Americans  are  on  the  right  road 
when  they  endeavor  to  oppose  it  with  conciliation  and 
arbitration,  applied  either  after  the  strike  is  declared  or 
when  it  is  on  the  point  of  being  declared.  Whatever  difficul- 
ties may  be  met  in  the  practical  application  of  arbitration, 
it  will  probably  constitute  one  of  the  partial  remedies  of 
the  future.84 

Meanwhile,  all  the  American  laws,  as  well  as  those  of 
Europe,  condemn  threats,  violence  and  intimidation;  it  is 
rightly  so,  since  they  could  not  be  tolerated  without  deny- 
ing the  principle  of  liberty  which  constitutes  the  very 
essence  of  combination.  But  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
threats  from  persuasion,  violence  from  collective  authority, 
and  in  America,  as  in  France  and  England,  the  attitude  of 
the  courts  is  a  wavering  one.  Yet  it  is  necessary,  in  the 
interest  of  industrial  peace,  as  in  that  of  the  laborers  who 
wish  to  work,  that  no  man  be  morally  coerced  to  engage 
or  persist  in  a  strike  against  his  will.  It  is  the  courts 
rather  than  the  legislatures  which  must  maintain  the  bal- 
ance between  the  right  of  association  and  that  of  individual 
liberty. 


84  A  more  detailed  treatment  of  this  question   may  be  found   in 
the  original  work.  ch.  vii,  pt.  iii.     [Tr.] 


274  The  American  Laborer 

To  this  the  workmen  oppose  the  argument,  which  is  not 
without  weight,  that  a  few  employers  can  get  together  in 
an  office  or  private  room  and  plan  a  lockout  or  concerted 
resistance,  while  the  strikers  are  compelled  to  control 
thousands  of  men  and  to  conduct  their  campaign  in  public, 
often  in  the  streets.  But  the  difficulty  of  their  task  offers 
no  excuse  for  the  tyranny  strikers  often  exercise  upon 
those  who  do  not  wish  to  join  or  remain  in  the  strike. 

Every  strike  entails  money  losses:  the  support  of  unem- 
ployed workmen  and  often  the  destruction  of  property; 
cessation  of  wages  for  the  workmen,  stoppage  of  produc- 
tion for  the  entrepreneurs.  When  a  strike  is  conducted 
legitimately,  each  participant  should  bear  his  own  loss;  but 
when  illegal  means  are  employed  the  offender  should  be 
liable  in  civil  damages  in  addition  to  being  prosecuted 
criminally;  thus,  the  workmen  might  have  a  right  of  action 
against  their  leaders  or  their  employers,  or  on  the  other 
hand,  the  employers  might  be  able  to  get  damages  from 
every  union  or  individual  striker  who  aids  or  abets  violence. 
Liberty  of  action  implies  responsibility  for  acts.  A  great 
step  in  the  direction  of  industrial  peace  will  have  been 
taken  the  day  when  public  opinion  becomes  convinced 
by  experience  that  the  courts  must  not  hesitate  to  apply 
the  principle  of  responsibility  in  all  cases. 

This  day  may  possibly  be  at  hand,  but  the  time  seems 
much  further  off  when  workmen  and  employers,  educated 
by  their  own  and  the  accumulated  experience  of  time,  will 
take  greater  account  of  the  economic  wrong  involved  in  the 
violent  interruption  of  production  by  strikes,  boycotts  and 
lockouts;  when  they  will  understand  that  their  highest  in- 
terest after  all  lies  rather  in  submitting  their  differences  to 
peaceable  arbitration  than  in  attempting  to  crush  their 
adversaries  in  a  conflict  which  impoverishes  all.  Then, 
perhaps,  the  compulsory  arbitration  which  I  cannot  now 
endorse  8S  may  become  effective,  because  superfluous. 

86  See  the  chapter  on  arbitration  in  the  third  part  of  L'Ouvrier 
Atnericain. 


The  Strike  275 

But  till  then  we  must  confine  ourselves  to  voluntary 
arbitration,  which  educates  the  mind,  slowly,  it  must  be 
admitted,  but  without  furnishing  the  demoralizing  spectacle 
of  impotent  law  and  of  abuses  committed  in  its  name. 
Then,  perhaps,  the  labor-unions,  more  numerous  and  better 
organized,  will  have  acquired  maturer  ideas,  the  em- 
ployers will  have  exchanged  their  masterful  tone  for  one 
of  explanation,  and  when  a  difference  arises  will  be  more 
willing  to  discuss  their  affairs  with  their  employees  than 
was  Mr.  Pullman. 

But  that  time  has  not  arrived;  neither  in  the  United 
States,  nor  in  France,  nor  even  in  England,  in  spite  of  the 
many  examples  of  the  sound  common  sense  of  the  English 
people  in  this  regard. 


CHAPTER  VI 
WAGES  OF  MEN 


The  general  increase  of  ivages. — That  the  general  level  of 
nominal  wages — the  average  sum  gained  by  the  laborer  for 
an  hour's  work — has  increased  in  the  last  seventy-five  years, 
is  beyond  reasonable  doubt.  In  America  as  in  most  Euro- 
pean states,  the  fact  is  so  patent  that  to  dispute  it,  one  must 
be  blind  with  prejudice  or  completely  engrossed  with  a  few 
abnormal  details  of  the  general  movement  of  labor.  One  of 
the  economists  who  has  studied  the  subject  most  carefully 
expresses  himself  as  follows  in  regard  to  the  movement  of 
wages  in  America:  "In  1830,  when  the  first  statistics  in 
my  possession  are  dated,  the  average  earnings  of  all  the 
operatives  in  a  large  cotton-mill,  who  then  worked  thirteen 
hours  or  more  a  day,  and  among  whom  were  comprised  a 
much  larger  proportion  of  men  than  at  the  present  time, 
while  the  women  were  older  and  there  were  fewer  children, 
were  $2.50  to  $2.62  per  week.1  The  quantity  of  machinery 
which  each  hand  could  tend  was  much  less;  the  production 
of  each  spindle  and  loom  was  less ;  the  cost  in  money  of  the 
mills  per  spindle  or  loom  much  greater,  while  the  price  of 


1  Prof.  James  in  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  70.  has  cited  an  earlier 
example,  a  maximum  wage-list  established  by  the  selectmen  of 
\Te\vburyport  in  1777: 

Carpenters .".  shillings  4  pence  per  day. 

Calkers 6         " 

Day  laborers,  not  found 4  " 

Day  laborers,  found '■>         " 

Joiners 4         "         8 

Masons (J 

These  were  maxima  and  undoubtedly  higher  than  the  rates  ac- 
tually paid. 


Wages  of  Men  271 

cloth  was  at  times  more  than  double  the  price  at  which  it 
can  now  be  sold  with  a  reasonable  profit.  The  average 
earnings  of  all  the  female  operatives  in  what  purports  to  be 
the  same  factory,  at  the  present  time,  on  the  same  fabric, 
working  ten  or  eleven  hours  a  day,  under  vastly  better  sani- 
tary conditions,  both  in  the  factory  and  in  their  dwelling- 
houses,  are  $5  per  week,  and  in  some  cases  even  $6 — or 
more  to  the  most  skillful.  That  is  to  say,  women  only  now 
earn  about  twice  as  much  in  ten  hours  as  men  and  women 
combined  averaged  in  thirteen  hours  a  little  over  forty  years 
ago."  2 

The  same  author,  basing  his  calculations  upon  the  pay- 
rolls of  two  New  England  factories,  estimates  that  the  aver- 
age annual  wage  was  $175  in  1840  and  $287  in  1883.  He 
also  gives  figures  from  other  industries:  in  one  piano-factory, 
$562  per  year  in  1843,  and  $824  in  1880;  in  another  piano- 
factory,  $11.33  Per  week  in  1853  and  $17.50  in  1880;  in  an 
edge-tool  manufactory,  $1.60  per  day  in  1850,  $2.26  in  1880.3 
I  have  cited  here  merely  a  few  illustrations.  All  the  docu- 
ments that  I  have  myself  consulted  confirm  the  opinion  of 
Mr.  Atkinson. 

2  Ed.  Atkinson,  The  Distribution  of  Products,  fifth  edition,  p.  64. 

In  his  special  census  report  entitled  "  The  Factory  System  of  the 
United  States,"  Col.  Wright  gives  several  sets  of  wage-statistics 
including  the  figures  of  Mr.  Atkinson.     I  subjoin  a  few  quotations. 

WAGES    PER    WE1CK. 


L840. 

IS  50. 

1S60. 

18701. 

18751. 

L880. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Laborer  (New  Hampshire)     "..00 

4.50 

5.00 

7.00 

6.50 

6.00 

Weaver  (New  Hampshire)     5.00 

5 .  T  5 

6.00 

7.00 

6.33 

6.75 

Weaver  (Massachusetts). .     4.20 

6.00 

5.68 

10.00 

9.78 

8.07 

6.00 

5.40 

7.70 

6. 75 

6.00 

Laborer  (North  Carolina.  .      2.25 

3.00 

4.50 

3.00 

3.90 

3.00 

i  Amounts  expressed  in  gold,  except  in  1S70  and  1875. 

Col.  Wright  corroborates  these  results  by  adding  statistics  which 
he  had  prepared  while  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  Massachusetts. 
According  to  these  figures  wages  in  the  cotton  manufacture  had 
increased  19  per  cent  between  i860  and  1878.  and  9.1  per  cent  be- 
tween 1878  and  1881.  Report  on  the  Manufactures  of  the  United 
States  at  the  Tenth  Census,  pp.  527-610. 

3  The  Distribution  of  Products,  pp.  118,  126  ct  passim. 


278  The  American  Laborer 

We  may  first  examine  agricultural  statistics.  They  show 
a  marked  increase  in  wages  during  the  interval  1815-1860; 
an  inflation  during  the  paper-money  regime,  followed  by  a 
fall;  and  finally,  a  recovery  which  again  raised  the  general 
level — different  in  different  sections  of  the  country — as  high 
as  it  had  been  forced  by  the  depreciation  of  the  currency.* 
As  I  pointed  out  in  V Agriculture  aux  Etats-Unis?  the  farm 
laborer  received  $9  a  month  and  his  board  fifty  years  ago; 
in  1892  he  received  $12.54  and  board.  If  at  present  the 
wages  of  farm-laborers  are  stationary  or  perhaps  declining, 
it  must  be  attributed  to  the  low  prices  of  agricultural  pro- 
duce.6 

In  the  second  place  we  may  obtain  a  general  notion  of 
the  upward  movement  by  observing  the  number  of  persons 
employed  in  manufactures  in  the  several  census  years,  in 
connection  with  the  total  wages  paid  to  them.  These  sta- 
tistics are  given  in  the  following  table,  accompanied  by  a 
representation  of  the  wage-level  at  four  epochs,  quoted  from 

*  In  Connecticut  the  farm-laborer  received  (board  not  included) 
from  $18  to  $20  a  month  during  the  period  1850-1855;  1860-1865, 
from  $22  to  $35  (paper)  a  month;  1870-1875,  from  $35  to  $40;  1885- 
1890,  $35  to  $40.  In  Washington  county,  New  York,  the  pay 
(with  board)  was  $.55  a  day,  1840-1850;  $1.37  (paper),  1860-1870;  $1, 
1880-1890.  In  Massachusetts  the  pay  (with  board)  was  $8  a 
month  in  1815,  $11  in  1825,  $11  in  1835,  $14.37  in  1845,  $14.67  in 
1855,  $32  (paper)  in  1865,  $31.87  (paper)  in  1875,  $28.75  in  1885, 
$29.70  in  1892.  See  Fourth  Triennial  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor 
Statistics  of  the  State  of  Colorado,  1893-94,  pp.  66,  83  et  seq.  This 
volume  contains  other  statistics  which  confirm  those  quoted.  Thus 
a  farmer  of  Butler  county,  Ohio,  paid  (with  board)  from  $6  to  $8 
a  month  in  1836,  from  $10  to  $12  in  1845,  from  $12  to  $14  in  1855, 
$13.25  in  1865,  and  from  $15  to  $17  in  1875.  Since  that  time  the 
rate  has  varied  from  $15  to  $18;  in  1892  it  was  from  $15  to  $17. 

5  L' Agriculture  aux  Etats-Unis,  p.  61.  Since  the  publication  of 
that  volume  Mr.  Powers  has  shown  in  one  of  his  reports  that  in 
the  Mississippi  valley  agricultural  wages  have  increased  from  60  to 
75  per  cent  in  the  last  35  years;  a  greater  increase,  Mr.  Powers 
thinks,  than  in  the  Eastern  States.  See  Fifth  Biennial  Report  .... 
Minnesota,  p.  508. 

6  In  France  agricultural  wages  apparently  decreased  a  little  be- 
tween 1882  and  1895.  [For  agricultural  wages  in  the  United  States 
since  1895,  see  note  36,  p.  296.] 


Wages  of  Men  279 

Col.  Wright.  The  wages  are  from  ioo  establishments  in  22 
different  industries,  the  average  rate  of  i860,  represented  by 
100,  being  taken  as  the  standard  of  comparison.7 


Average 
number  of 
employees. 

Total  wages 
(millions  of 
dollars). 

Average  annual 
wages  per  em- 
ployee (dollars). 

Index-number 
of  wages  (from 
CD.  Wright). 
82.5 

958,079 

237 

247 

1,131,246 

379 

335 

100.0 
155.6 

2,053,996 

776 

375 

2,732,595 

948 

346 

4,712,622 

2,283 

484 

168.6 

1840 

1850 

1860 

1866 

1870 

1880 

1890 

This  comparison  which  includes  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, all  kinds  of  employees  from  superintendents  down  to 
day-laborers,  is  too  general  to  be  exact.  Statisticians  have 
criticised  it;  they  have  pointed  out  that  the  inquiry  about 
wages,  like  the  inquiry  about  the  cost  of  materials,  has 
changed  from  one  census  to  another;  that  in  1880,  for  ex- 
ample, the  enumeration  of  agricultural  laborers,  who  as  a 
general  rule  receive  smaller  wages  than  other  employees, 
was  more  complete  than  in  1890;  that  on  the  contrary  the 
employees  engaged  in  manufacturing  establishments  were 
much  more  thoroughly  canvassed  in  1890  than  in  1880;  that 
if  the  wages  of  government  employees  were  eliminated,  the 
average  for  1890  would  be  less  than  $484;  and  finally,  that 
the  total  amount  of  wages  paid  during  the  year  divided  by 
the  average  number  of  hands  employed  during  that  year 
does  not  necessarily  give  the  average  annual  wages  per  em- 
ployee. "  Therefore,"  writes  the  superintendent,  "  the  av- 
erage annual  wages  per  employe  as  obtained  from  the  re- 
ports for  the  two  censuses  are  not  comparable,  nor  should 
the  amounts  be  used  to  ascertain  the  percentage  of  in- 
crease." 8  Those  publicists  of  the  labor-party  who  pretend 
that  the  condition  of  the  wage-earner  goes  on  growing  worse 
and  worse,  also  challenge  the  truth  of  these  figures. 

However  the  comparison  is  not  wholly  destitute  of  sig- 
nificance. An  impartial  examination  leads  one  to  conclude 
that  there  has  been  an  increase  in  nominal  wages — an  in- 

7  See  The  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  223. 

8  Abstract  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  second  edition,  p.  139. 


280  The  American  Laborer 

crease  which  between  the  years  1850  and  1890  is  very  close 
to  100  per  cent — ;  that  this  growth,  in  all  probability,  has 
been  by  gradual  stages;  and  that  if  this  last  conclusion  be 
not  confirmed  for  the  year  1870,  it  is  because  at  that  epoch 
prices  were  inflated  by  the  depreciation  of  the  currency. 

The  analysis  by  groups  of  the  employees  who  averaged 
$484  in  1890,  shows  that  male  officers,  firm  members,  and 
clerks  received  on  an  average  $890,  the  females  of  the  same 
group,  $462  a  year;  that  among  time-workers  the  men  aver- 
aged $498,  the  women  $276,  and  the  children,  $141  a  year; 
while  among  piece-workers,  male  operatives  averaged  $500, 
female  operatives  $255,  and  children  $117  a  year.9  The 
figures  show  that  the  highest  wages  are  paid  to  officers  and 
clerks;  that  among  piece-workers  the  male  operative — usu- 
ally a  good  workman  who  does  his  work  at  the  shop  of  his 
employer — makes  more  than  the  workman  paid  by  the  day, 
while  among  workingwomen  the  conditions  are  reversed — 
women  often  doing  piece-work  at  home  in  connection  with 
other  work;  that  the  respective  earnings  of  children,  women 
and  men  are  related  nearly  as  1 : 2 :  3  or  4.  These  are  re- 
sults so  intrinsically  probable  that  they  establish  the  general 
validity,  for  our  purposes,  of  the  statistics  we  have  been  con- 
sidering. 

And  yet  these  figures  do  not  represent  the  real  average 
income  in  the  several  groups.  American  statisticians  have 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  real  mean  is  higher  than 
the  one  given  because  certain  trades  such  as  bricklaying, 
lumbering,  etc.,  are  exercised  during  only  a  part  of  the  year: 
the  wages  furnished  by  employers  to  the  census  enumera- 
tors in  such  cases  do  not  include  the  earnings  made  by  the 
workman  in  other  occupations  during  the  time  that  he  can- 


*  The  group  of  officers,  firm  members  and  clerks  contained 
418.081  men  and  42,928  women;  the  time-workers,  skilled  and  un- 
skilled, 2.881,795  men,  505.712  women,  and  104.522  children;  the 
piece-workers,  445.247  men,  297.974  women,  and  16,363  children,  on 
an  average.  The  word  "  men  "  as  used  here  denotes  males  above 
16  years  of  age,  the  word  "  women,''  females  above  15  years.  Re- 
port on  Manufacturing  Industries  ....  Eleventh  Census.  Part  I,  p.  20. 


Wages  of  Men  281 

not  work  at  his  regular  trade.  Other  writers  endeavor  to 
prove  that  the  real  mean  is  less  than  the  figures  given  be- 
cause the  average  number  of  persons  employed  is  less  than 
the  maximum  number  employed  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year. 

The  census  estimate  of  the  average  annual  wage  in  1880 
was  $346,  which  Mr.  Atkinson  thinks  should  be  increased 
to  $415  because  of  the  fact  that  establishments  created  dur- 
ing the  year  did  not  furnish  a  true  estimate  of  the  whole 
year's  wages.  He  attempted  to  obtain  exact  results  by  cal- 
culating the  mean  for  several  occupations  according  to  the 
census  of  1880;  I  have  treated  the  returns  of  the  eleventh 
census  in  a  similar  way,  and  in  every  instance  have  found 
an  increase.10 

In  the  third  place  the  progress  of  wages  may  be  shown 
by  illustrations  from  special  industries.  A  comparison,  for 
instance,  of  wages  at  Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  in  1850 
and  1883  shows  an  increase  of  something  more  than  50  per 
cent.11     At  New  York,  painters  who  had  received  from  $1.50 


10  The  Distribution  of  Products,  p.  109.  In  the  125  occupations  in 
which  I  was  able  to  make  a  comparison,  there  was  not  a  single  one 
in  which  the  per  capita  earnings  were  less  in  1890  than  in  1880. 
from  those  in  the  manufacture  of  liquors  ($468  in  1880  and  $815  in 
1890)  and  marble  and  stone  work  ($477  and  $723),  to  those  in  the 
manufacture  of  woolen  goods  ($300  and  $358)  and  hosiery  and 
knit  goods  ($232  and  $298). 

11  See  the  following  list  of  wages  paid  in  the  "  cotton  and  wool 
mills  "  of  Manchester,  N.  H.,  in  1850  and  1883.  As  the  occupa- 
tions have  changed  somewhat  during  the  interval,  the  comparison 
is  not  exact. 

men.— 1850.  ,  1883. 

Overseers $2.42       Overseers $3.40 

Wool  sorters 1.25       Wool  sorters 1.90 

Pickermen 0.90       Harness  pickers 0.95 

Carders 1.00       Cotton  carding 1.55-0.65 

Shearer 0.92 

Machinist 1.19       Machinists 1.89 

Carpenters 1.19       Carpenters 1.89 

women.  ..        \  males  ..      1.15 

Laborers $1.00       Q.      .       \  cotton  ]  females       0.84 

Spinners 0.32       fePlnmn^ )  j  males  . .     1.80 

Spoolers 0.40  '  {  females       0.80 

Warpers    0.40       Warpers    0.95 

Weavers 0.44       Weaving 1.79-0.77 

Labor  and  Capital,  iii,  238. 


282 


The  American  Laborer 


to  $2.00  for  a  day's  work  of  ten  hours  in  i860,  received  from 
$3.50  to  $4.00  for  eight  hours'  work  in  1893;  during  the 
paper-money  regime  their  wages  had  risen  as  high  as  $4.00, 
but  afterwards  had  fallen  to  $2.5o.12  Fluctuations  of  this 
kind  are  noticed  in  several  occupations.  In  this  and  other 
cities  of  New  York  wages  seem  to  have  increased  generally, 


WAGES    OF    COMPOSITORS    AT    NEW    YORK. 

[From  Twelfth  Annual  Report, Nevj  York,  p.  92.] 


Compositors,  afternoon  newspapers, 

time-work,  per  week 

Same,  piece-work,  per  1000  ems. .  .  . 
Compositors,  morning  papers,  time- 
work,  per  week     

Same,  piece-work,  per  1000  ems.  .  .  . 
Compositors,   book   and   job,  time- 
work,  per  week 

Same,  piece-work,  per  1000  ems.  .  . . 
Typesetting      machine      operators, 

morning  papers,  per  week 

12  In  1860 $2.00- 

Inl862 

In  1864-1870  

In  1871  

In  1872  

In  1874-1878  

In  1880     

In  1885 

>rdinary  painters 
fresco  painters 


In  1893 


(01 


Wages  before 

organization 

in  1852. 

)   V- 

Wages 

in 

1894. 

$12 

$24 

25  to  28  cents. 

40  cents. 

$14 

$27 

32  cents. 

50  cents. 

$9  to  $10 

$18 

37  to  43  cents. 

$27 

?1.50  for  a  dav  of 

10  hours. 

3.00         " 

< 

10 

(i 

3.50          " 

< 

8 

11 

4.00         " 

c 

8 

11 

3.50         " 

< 

10 

" 

2.50 

t 

10 

(i 

3.00          " 

t 

10 

" 

3.50          " 

' 

9 

C( 

3.50 

c 

8 

11 

4.00          " 

( 

8 

II 

1891,    p.    149 

et 

seq. 

The  data 

Report  ....  State  of  New   York, 
for  1893  was  furnished  by  the  assistant  commissioner  of  labor. 

On  the  other  hand  compare  the  data  for  New  York  city  fur- 
nished by  the  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  and  Joiners  who  say: 
"  It  has  been  a  continual  struggle  to  maintain  that  rate." 

In  1867 $4.00  for  a  day  of  10  hours. 


In  1871-1872 3.50 

After  the  crisis  of  1873  .  .$2.00-2.25 

In  L880 3.00 

In  1S81 3.25 

In  1885 3.50 

In  1890 3.50 


"  10  « 
"  10  " 
11  10  « 
11       9        11 

(S  on  Saturday). 
"       9  hours 

(8  on  Saturday). 
The  Italian  masons  received  from  $2.50  to  $3  in  the  period  1880- 
1889:  since  1890  they  have  received  $3.50.     Plasterers  in  Brooklyn 
received  $2.50  in  1879;  since  1884  they  have  received  $4.00. 


In  1893 3.50 


Wages  of  Men  283 

the  increase  taking  the  form  of  a  reduction  of  hours  in  some 
cases,  in  others,  appearing  as  an  absolute  rise.  The  work- 
ingmen  attribute  the  advance  to  the  influence  of  their  or- 
ganizations. 

Col.  Wright  has  furnished  statistical  proof,  in  his  Indus- 
trial Evolution,  of  the  increase  in  the  wages  of  carpenters, 
shoemakers,  spinners  and  day-laborers.  Some  of  the  quo- 
tations go  back  as  far  as  the  last  century  and  show  that  the 
advancement  has  been  general  although  not  uniform.  In 
the  Massachusetts  cotton-mills,  in  1831,  the  weekly  wages 
of  men  ranged  from  $4.50  to  $7.00,  those  of  women  from 
$2.20  to  $2.60,  and  those  of  children  from  $1.50  to  $2.00. 
In  1880,  in  the  Massachusetts  mills,  male  operatives  aver- 
aged $6.37,  female  operatives  $9.05,  and  children  $3.30  a 
week.  In  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  in  1890,  men  re- 
ceived from  $3.21  to  $6.42,  women  from  $5.17  to  $10.44, 
children  $2.65  per  week.  In  1633  master-masons  made 
33/<3  cents  per  day;  in  1790,  $1.00  a  day;  in  1891  from  $5 
in  Colorado  to  $2.25  in  North  Carolina,  in  the  summer 
season.  The  statistics  of  carpenters,  shoemakers,  day-lab- 
orers and  spinners,  follow:18 

From  diverse  statistical  sources  I  have  calculated  that  the 
average  annual  wages  of  men,  women  and  children  in  the 
woolen  industry  were  $115  in   1820  {circa);  $216  in   i860, 


13  The  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  215 

et  seq. 

Carpenters. 

Day-laborers. 

Shoemakers. 

Spinners. 

1790. 

.§0.60 

1790.. 

$0.43 

1790) 

1820  ) 

1800. 

.    0.70 

1800.. 

0.62K 

to 
1800  ] 

■  $0.73X 

to 
1830  ) 

•  80.44 

1810. 

.    1.09 

1800) 

to    \ 

1810  ) 

1820. 

.   1.13 

0.82 

1820") 
to 

.    1.00 

1830) 

to     | 

•    0.90 

1840. 

.   1.40? 

1830  J 

1840  ) 

1850. 

.    1.40? 

1810) 
to    [ 

0.90 

1860. 

.    1.70 

1840  ) 

1850  ) 

1820  ) 

1880. 

.    1.16 

to 

.    1.03 

to 
1860  ) 

■    2.03 

1840  ) 
to    [ 

0.82^ 
to 

1850  \ 
1850  ) 

1880. 

.   2.42 

1860  ) 

1.00 

to    [ 
I860) 
1880. 

■    1.03 
.    1.40 

28  l  The  American  Laborer 

$333  in  1870  (paper),  $294  in  1880  and  $350  in  1890."  Mr. 
North  cites  one  Massachusetts  factory  which  in  1820  gave 
employment  to  46  men,  23  women  and  23  children  who  were 
paid  on  the  average  $115  per  annum — wages  as  low,  says  the 
author,  as  were  paid  in  England  at  that  time.  Towards  1830 
the  weekly  pay  of  weavers  who  operated  one  or  two  looms 
was  from  $2.50  to  $3,  that  of  children,  from  $1  to  $2:  laborers 
made  80  cents  a  clay  and  machinists  $1.50.  The  rapid  de- 
velopment of  the  woolen  industry  during  and  after  the  war, 
increased  these  rates.  Basing  the  calculations  upon  census 
statistics  I  find,  as  stated  above,  that  average  wages  in  the 
woolen  industry  were  $216  in  i860,  $333  (currency)  in  1870; 
$294  in  1880,  $350  in  1890. 

Mr.  Steinwav,  who  between  1850  and  1883  rose  from  the 
position  of  an  ordinary  German  piano-maker  to  that  of  one 
of  the  greatest  manufacturers  of  pianos  in  America,  stated 
before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Education  and  Labor  in 
1883,  that  when  he  came  to  America  the  piano-makers  saved 
very  little:  since  that  time,  he  continued,  wages  have  doubled 
and  many  of  them  have  accounts  at  the  savings-banks. 
He  added  that  most  of  the  dangerous  and  painful  work  was 
now  done  by  machinery  and  that,  as  he  had  a  factor}-  in 
Hamburg,  he  could  assert  with  some  authority,  that  piano- 
makers  in  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Boston  and  Baltimore 
made  three  times  as  much  as  they  did  in  Germany.15 

But  it  would  be  superfluous  to  multiply  illustrations; 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  wages  have  increased  in  the  last 
forty  years.  There  are  exceptions,  wages  have  declined  in 
certain  departments  of  the  iron,  silk,  and  clothing  indus- 
tries, for  example,  but  these  cases  are  rare  and  often  of 
doubtful  authenticity.  Nor  have  all  the  publicists  of  the 
labor  party,  who  as  a  rule  are  fond  of  dwelling  upon  the  in- 
creasing misety  of  the  laboring  classes,  closed  their  eyes  to 
the  evidence.     Many  of  them  admit  the  improvement  and 


A  Century  of  American  Wool  Manufacture,  by  S.  N.  D.  North. 
Labor  and  Capita],  i.  1085. 


Wages  of  Men  285 

derive  from  it  an  argument  in  favor  of  strikes  and  labor- 
unions. 

During  several  years  an  investigation  of  this  subject  was 
conducted  by  the  New  York  labor  bureau  in  connection 
with  the  labor-organizations  of  that  State.  Out  of  695 
unions  interrogated  in  the  year  1894,  a  large  majority,  402, 
answered  that  wages  had  increased  since  their  formation, 
and  claimed  the  increase  as  one  of  the  results  of  organiza- 
tion; 62  answered  that  there  had  been  a  reduction  of  wages; 
174  that  there  had  been  no  change,  and  57  failed  to  respond. 
A  similar  investigation  in  Illinois,  covering  114  occupa- 
tions and  the  period  1882-1887,  showed  that  in  19  occupa- 
tions wages  had  not  changed,  that  in  72  occupations  they 
had  decreased — about  13  per  cent  on  an  average,  and  that 
in  23  occupations  they  had  increased,  about  16  per  cent.1" 
The  general  result  seemed  to  show  a  diminution  in  the  earn- 
ings of  workingmen,  but  the  period  was  one  of  commercial 
depression.17 

At  the  convention  of  the  Federation  of  Labor  in  1890, 
the  unions  reported  that  1163  strikes  had  been  declared,  all 
of  which,  according  to  the  Official  Book  of  the  Federation,18 
had  been  successful,  securing  advances  ranging  from  7  to  25 
per  cent.  There  was  a  single  exception  which  was  ex- 
plained by  the  bad  state  of  business. 

The  most  extensive  treatment  of  this  subject  which  has 
been  published  in  America  is  the  report  upon  Wholesale 
Prices,  Wages,  and  Transportation  presented  by  Senator  Aid- 
rich  during  the  second  session  of  the  Fifty-second  Con- 
gress. The  statistician  in  charge  calculated  the  average  rate 
of  wages  in  twenty-two  industries  for  the  years  1840-1891, 
expressing  the  results  in  terms  of  the  average  rates  of  i860, 

16  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  ....  Illinois,  1890,  p.  361. 

17  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  chapter  x,  Crises  ct  Chomages. 

18  December,  1892.  [In  1898,  260  strikes  were  declared,  involv- 
ing 22,311  workers,  of  which  160  were  won,  benefiting  19,367  per- 
sons. Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  International  Typographical 
Union,  p.  113] 


286  The  American  Laborer 

which  were  each  represented  by  ioo.  In  no  industry  was 
the  average  rate  of  the  initial  year  (1840,  where  the  quo- 
tations could  be  carried  back  that  far)  greater  than  ioo.1* 
In  1891,  however,  the  lowest  average  among  the  twenty-two 
industries  was  137.6.  In  the  carriage  and  wagon  industry 
the  ratio  had  risen  from  100  in  1840  to  202.4  in  1880,  and  it 
remained  at  that  point  until  1891.  The  total  index-number 
of  wages  for  1891  was  160.7.20 

In  the  half-century  covered  by  this  investigation  it  is  con- 
venient to  distinguish  three  periods:  1840-1860,  1861-1878, 
1879-1891.  During  the  first  of  these  the  increase  in  wages 
was  inconsiderable.  In  the  second,  during  which  values 
were  greatly  disturbed  by  the  depreciation  of  the  currency, 
nominal  wages  were  suddenly  elevated  to  a  great  height,  al- 
though not  so  high,  as  we  shall  see  later,21  as  the  prices  of 
commodities.  During  the  third  period  which  extends  from 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments  to  the  end  of  the  investi- 
gation, wages  again  increased  while  the  value  of  money 
steadily  fell. 

19 85  in  the  building  trades;  cotton  goods  86;  illuminating  gas 
927;  lumber  59.1;  metals  and  metallic  goods  84.6;  railroads  89.5; 
stone  80.4;  white  lead  90.7;  carriages  and  wagons  100;  total  average 

87.7. 

20  Breweries  and  the  building  trades  are  among  those  industries 
in  which  the  increase  was  greatest,  the  wages  of  slaters  in  1891 
being  represented  by  280,  those  of  brewers  by  375.  In  the  543 
series  of  wage-quotations  6  showed  no  change,  16  showed  a  de- 
crease, and  521  showed  an  increase,  in  1891  as  compared  with  i860. 

The  total  index-number  of  wages  for  every  tenth  year  between 

1840  and  1890,  is  given  below.     The  simple  arithmetic  average  of 

the  several  wage-variations  is  given  in  the  first  column.     In  the 

second  column  weighted  averages  are  given,  the  wage-variations 

in  the   several   occupations   being  weighted  in   proportion   to  the 

number  of  employees  represented. 

v  Simple  Average  according 

1  ear-  average.  to  importance. 

1840 87.7  82.5 

1850 92.7  90.9 

1860 100.0  100.0 

1870  (currency) 162.2  167.1 

1870  (gold) 133.7  136.9 

1880 141.5  143.0 

1890 158.9  16S.2 

"  See  chapter  ix. 


Wages  of  Men  287 

This  increase  of  wages  has  not  been  perfectly  uniform  nor 
has  it  taken  place  with  mathematical  regularity.  That  the 
wealth  of  a  country  is  increasing  does  not  imply  that  every 
man  is  getting  rich;  the  shiftless  and  the  spendthrift  we  have 
with  us  always.  So  with  wages.  While  they  have  in- 
creased in  the  great  majority  of  industries,  there  are  trades 
in  which  there  has  been  a  diminution,  particularly  at  piece^ 
work.  Certain  localities  have  been  more  favored  than  oth-  / 
ers;  certain  periods  of  depression  have  seen  the  working- 
men  lose  part  of  the  gains  made  in  preceding  periods  of 
prosperity;  in  certain  industries  skilled  workmen  who  re- 
ceived high  wages  because  of  their  scarcity  have  now  been 
replaced  by  ordinary  laborers.22  The  laboring  classes  re- 
ceived painful  proof  of  the  severities  of  a  crisis  in  1873;  they 
underwent  another  painful  experience  in  the  crisis  of  1893- 
i894,22a  which  in  some  industries  resulted  in  marked  reduc- 
tions of  wages,  in  others,  in  prolonged  periods  of  non-em- 
ployment. 

In  the  Population  Franqaise  I  said,  speaking  of  wages: 
"  The  doubling  of  wages  in  France  in  the  last  sixty  years  is 
an  average  estimate  based  upon  figures  which  we  have  col- 
lected, and  which  we  believe  to  be  correct.  Like  most  aver- 
ages, however,  it  may  be  disputed.  It  is  not  difficult  to  find 
conflicting  instances  here  and  there But  the  diver- 
gence of  extremes  does  not  invalidate  a  mean  when  the 
latter  is  based  upon  a  majority  of  the  returns."     And  what 

22  In  a  visit  made  by  the  commissioners  of  labor  to  the  Sparrow's 
Point  Steel  Works,  near  Baltimore,  the  remark  was  made  to  the 
manager  that  at  the  Harrisburg  works  many  of  the  workman  had 
been  able  to  buy  their  own  homes,  whereas  the  Maryland  Company 
would  not  sell  its  land.  The  manager  replied  that  while  the  work- 
man might  be  able  to  do  this  when  they  made  from  $4  to  $10  a 
day,  they  could  not  do  it  when  the  average  wage  was  $1.75  (aver- 
age of  skilled  and  ordinary  laborers).  However,  this  statement 
cannot  be  accepted  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  change  indicated. 
See  Fourth  Biennial  Report  ....  Maryland. 

22a  In  1898  and  1899  there  was  a  noticeable  recovery  from  the 
decline  noted  in  the  text.  The  following  table  showing  the 
course    of    the    wages    of    railway    employees,    is    taken    from    the 


288 


The  American  Laborer 


I  have  said  in  speaking  of  the  greater  part  of  the  States  of 
Europe  I  now  reaffirm  in  speaking  of  the  United  States." 
The  rise  of  wages  everywhere  accompanies  the  progress  of 
industry — which  is  due  particularly  to  the  development  of 
science,  machinery  and  manufacture  on  a  large  scale — and 
both  are  contemporaneous  with  the  growth  of  wealth;  the 
three  are  intimately  connected  and  dependent  upon  one  an- 
other. The  growth  of  the  right  of  association  which  now 
permits  laborers,  formerly  isolated,  to  combine  in  defense  of 
their  own  interests,  has  not  been  without  influence  in  raising 
wages." 


Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor  for  July,  1899,  p.  693.     The  vari- 
ous rates  are  expressed  in  terms  of  those  of  1892.     [Tr.] 

RELATIVE       AVERAGE       DAILT      COMPENSATION      OF       ALL      RAILWAY       EM- 
PLOYEES    IN      THE     UNITED     STATES     FOR     THE     YEARS     ENDING     JUNE 

30,   1892  TO  1899. 


OCCUPATIONS. 


General  officers I 

Other  officers    ( 

General  office  clerks 

Station  agents 

Other  station  men 

Enginemen 

Firemen 

Conductors 

Other  train  men 

Machinists 

Carpenters  

Other  shopmen 

Section  foremen 

Other  track  men 

Switchmen,  flagmen,  and  watch- 
men   

Telegraph  operators  and  dis- 
patchers   

Employees  (account  floating 
equipment)  

All  other  employees  (including 
laborers) 


1892. 

1893. 

1894. 

1895. 

1896. 

1897. 

1898. 

100.0 

102.9 

111.5 

102.5 

103.8 

96.1 

97.8 

100.0 

101.4 

106.4 

99.5 

100.5 

99.1 

102.3 

100.0 

101.1 

96.7 

96.1 

95.6 

95.6 

95.6 

100.0 

98.2 

97.0 

96.4 

96.4 

96.4 

95.8 

100.0 

99.5 

98.1 

99.2 

99.2 

99.2 

101.1 

100.0 

98.6 

98.1 

99.0 

99.5 

99.0 

101.0 

100.0 

100.3 

99.0 

99.0 

99.3 

100.0 

102.0 

100.0 

101.1 

100.0 

100.5 

100.5 

100.5 

103.2 

100.0 

101.7 

96.5 

96.9 

98.7 

97.4 

99.6 

100.0 

101.4 

97.1 

97.6 

97.6 

96.6 

97.1 

100.0 

102.3 

98.8 

99.4 

98.8 

100.0 

99.4 

100.0 

99.4 

97.2 

96.6 

96.6 

96.6 

96.0 

100.0 

100.0 

96.7 

95.9 

95.9 

95.1 

95.1 

100.0 

101.1 

98.3 

98.3 

97.8 

96.6 

97.8 

100.0 

102.1 

100.0 

102.6 

100.0 

98.4 

99.5 

100.0 

94.7 

95.2 

92.3 

93.7 

89.9 

91.3 

100.0 

101.8 

98.8 

98.8 

98.8 

98.2 

100.0 

1899. 


98.0 

100.0 
96.1 
95.2 
101.1 
101.4 
102.0 
102.6 
100.0 
97.6 
100.6 
95.5 
96.7 

99.4 

100.0 

91.3 

100.6 


"  La  Population  Francaise,  vol.  iii,  p.  97. 

~*  The  maximum  list  established  by  the  Selectmen  of  Newbury- 
port  in  1777,  quoted  in  this  book,  shows  that  at  that  time  wages 
were  relatively  high  in  America,  and  that,  as  in  Europe,  the  legis- 
lature was  prone  to  interfere  in  opposition  to  the  workmen  when 
wages  showed  a  disposition  to  rise. 


Wages  of  Men  289 

The  local  variation  of  wages. — In  the  United  States  as  in 
Europe,  wages  vary  from  one  occupation  to  another,  and 
from  one  place  to  another  at  any  given  time,  because  they 
always  adjust  themselves  approximately  to  the  importance 
of  the  service  and  the  cost  of  living. 

In  1890  the  census  office  published  a  table  of  average 
wages  arranged  by  States.  The  table  shows  that  the  lowest 
ranks  are  held  by  the  old  slave  States  whose  average  rates 
vary  from  $211  to  $395  per  year;25  that  the  highest  wages 
are  paid  in  the  States  and  Territories  of  the  far  West  in 
which  the  population  is  sparse,  artizans  rare,  homesteads 
easily  acquired,  and  where,  finally,  the  customs  are  more 
democratic  and  the  labor-organizations  more  powerful,  per- 
haps, than  in  the  rest  of  America.  In  the  scale  of  agricul- 
tural wages  this  section  of  the  country  is  also  at  the  top. 
In  California,  Montana,  Colorado,  Nevada,  etc.,  the  mining 
industry  furnishes  another  cause  of  higher  wages.  That  the 
rate  in  California  is  not  higher  must  be  attributed  in  part  to 
the  effect  of  Chinese  labor.  A  French  mine-owner  told  me 
that  in  his  mine  most  of  the  laborers  made  $3  a  day,  only  a 
few  as  low  as  $2,  while  the  Chinese,  who  did  as  much  work 
as  the  whites,  received  just  half-pay. 

The  great  manufacturing  States  occupy  a  median  position, 
the  general  average  of  the  United  States  being  $484,  that  of 
Massachusetts,     Connecticut,     New     York,     Pennsylvania, 


25  $211  per  annum  in  North  Carolina,  $267  in  South  Carolina,  $307 
in  Georgia,  $310  in  Mississippi,  $329  in  Virginia,  $387  in  Maryland, 
$360  in  Arkansas,  $374  in  Alabama,  $379  in  West  Virginia,  $395  in 
Tennessee. 

A  comparison  of  wages  in  the  North  and  South  may  be  drawn 
from  the  investigation  of  the  textile  industries  made  by  the  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Labor  in  1891.  It  was  found  that  on  an 
average  spinners  made  49  cents  a  day  in  the  North  and  43  cents 
in  the  South;  weavers,  $1.03  in  the  North  and  86  cents  in  the  South; 
that  the  general  average  in  the  North  was  97  cents  as  compared 
with  73  cents  in  the  South.  This  is  another  proof  of  the  fact  that 
in  general  wages  are  slightly  higher  in  the  North  than  in  the  South, 
although  a  few  exceptions  may  exist.  See  Seventh  Annual  Report 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  pp.  383,  460. 


290 


The  American  Laborer 


Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois  being  $493.20  As  the  farm-hand 
receives  less  pay  than  the  factory-hand  and  as  the  agricul- 
tural population  is  relatively  smaller  in  the  great  manufac- 
turing States  than  in  many  others,  we  may  conclude  that, 
thanks  to  immigration,  the  manufacturer  does  not  have  to 
pay  very  high  wages.  We  may  also  gather  from  the  table 
that  protection  does  not  make  high  wages,  nor  the  pro- 
ductivity of  labor  fully  explain  them.  For  there  is  no 
country  whose  industries  are  more  completely  protected  and, 
thanks  to  machinery,  none  in  which  the  productivity  of  the 
laborer  is  so  great." 


26  AVERAGE 

State8. 
Alabama 

WAGES 

Average 
wages. 

$375 

258 

678 

359 

582 

720 

506 

451 

625 

470 

307 

419 

549 

416 

456 

435 

497 

423 

412 

349 

387 

494 

404 

4  79 

310 

534 

BY    STATES,    IN    1890. 
States. 

Average 
wages. 

721 

Alaska  

544 

Arizona 

718 

383 

516 

Colorado 

New  Mexico 

564 

Ohio 

549 
211 

542 

478 

36S 

613 

Illinois 

462 

441 

267 

487 

395 

Maine 

Texas  

470 

Utah 

Virginia 

545 
405 

329 

621 

Michigan 

379 

392 

768 

Missouri 

484 

17  The  railway  statistics  are  more  trustworthy,  although  they  are 
composed  of  diverse  elements.  The  average  daily  compensation  of 
the  fifteen  classes  of  railway  employees  (officers  and  office  clerks 
excluded)  differentiated  in  the  reports  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  was  $2.09  in  1898,  $2.00  in  1897,  $2.01  in  1896,  $2.01  in 
1895,  $2.00   in   1894.    The   average  daily   compensation   in  each   of 


Wages  of  Men  291 

The  census  figures  can  be  used  for  purposes  of  compari- 
son, but  they  do  not  represent  actual  wages.  It  should  also 
be  pointed  out  that  the  average  rate  of  a  State  conceals  a 
great  number  of  local  variations.  Brooklyn  and  New  York, 
for  instance,  furnish  an  illustration  of  this  species  of  varia- 
tion. Although  in  many  industries,  such  as  bakeries,  gas- 
works, plumbing,  etc.,  the  rates  were  the  same  in  both  cities, 
carpenters,  joiners,  and  cabinet-makers  received  a  little  less 
in  Brooklyn  than  in  New  York.  The  explanation  is  found 
in  the  facts  that  in  New  York  the  population  is  denser,  the 
cost  of  living  higher,  and  the  trade  wealthier.28 

In  Chicago  in  1890,  according  to  the  consul-general  of 
France,  carpenters  received  from  $12  to  $20  a  week,  masons 
from  $21  to  $30,  butchers  from  $9  to  $30,  cabinet-makers 
from  $7  to  $16,  shoemakers  from  $9  to  $I2.29  The  consul 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  time  lost  each  year  would  I 
sensibly  reduce  these  nominal  rates  and  that  the  annual 
earnings  divided  by  the  number  of  days  in  the  year  would  1 
only  give  about  $1.70  (8  fr.  90)  for  painters  and  workers  in 
the  building  trades,  $1.30  (6  fr.  65)  for  cigar-makers,  $1.20 

the   ten    territorial    groups    distinguished   by  the   statistics   of  the 

commission  was,  1897  and  1898: 

1897  1898 

Group  I  (New  England) $1.98         $2.00 

Group  II  (Middle  Atlantic  States) 1.95  1.96 

Group  III  (Ind.,  Ohio,  Mich.) 1.91  1.93 

Group  IV  (Va.,  W.  Va.,  N.  C.,  8.  C.) 1.57  1.69 

Group  V  (Ky.,  Tenn.,  Ga.,  Fla.,  Ala.,  Miss.) 1.81  1.82 

Group  VI  (N.  Da.,  S.  Da.,  Minn.,  Wis.,  Iowa,  111.) 2.03  2.03 

Group  VII  (Mont.,  Wy.,  Neb.) 2.28  2.30 

Group  VIII  (Mo.,  Ark.,  Ind.  Ter.,  Ok.,  Kan.,  Col.) 2.24  2.21 

Group  IX  (Tex.,  La.,  New  Mex.) 2.28  2.30 

Group  X  (Pacific  and  Rocky  Mountain  States) 2.62  2.62 

See  Statistics  of  Railways,  1897,  p.  41  et  seq.,  1898,  p.  44  et  seq. 
[Tr.] 

28  Joiners  in  New  York,  $3.50;  in  Brooklyn,  $3.00  to  $3.25.  Car- 
penters in  New  York,  $3.20  to  $360;  in  Brooklyn,  $2.50  to  $3-33- 
Cabinet-makers  in  New  York,  $1.66  to  $3-66;  in  Brooklyn,  $1.56  to 
$2.66. 

"The  rates  stipulated  in  the  agreements  between  contractors 
and  labor-unions  in  Chicago  in  1893,  were  higher:  27lA  cents  an 
hour  for  electricians,  35  cents  an  hour  for  painters  and  tin-roofers, 
$3.75  a  day  for  plumbers. 


292  The  American  Laborer 

(6  fr.  25)  for  tailors.  These  are  lower  than  the  rates  in  New 
York.30 

I  should  not  be  surprised  if  these  local  variations  in  the 
United  States,  particularly  in  the  old  free  States,  were  less 
than  in  France,  although  the  distances  from  place  to  place 
are  much  greater  in  the  former  country.  The  mobility  of 
the  population,  the  high  state  of  education  and,  in  certain 
trades,  the  development  of  the  labor-organizations  tend  to 
equalize  wages,  as  water  tends  to  come  to  the  same  level  in 
communicating  vessels.  These  generalizations,  however, 
are  subject  to  some  exceptions. 

Piece-work  and  piece-work  rates. — The  piece-rate  system  is 
employed  in  a  great  number  of  industries,  although  in  a 
smaller  number,  particularly  in  iron-works  and  the  mines, 
sliding-scales  have  been  established  by  mutual  agreements 
between  employers  and  workmen.  The  first  agreement  of 
the  latter  kind  was  adopted  at  Pittsburg  in  1865  between  a 
body  of  iron-manufacturers  and  the  puddlers  in  their  em- 
ploy. Before  this  time  there  had  been  great  fluctuations  in 
the  rate  of  wages.  Puddlers  had  received  as  high  as  $7  a  ton 
before  1850  but  successive  reductions,  accompanied  by  long 
strikes,  had  brought  the  rate  down  to  $4.50.  During  the 
following  decade  reductions  and  advances  alternated  until 
in  i860  the  rates  varied  between  $3.50  and  $4.  The  schedule 
adopted  by  the  manufacturers  and  puddlers  in  1865  estab- 
lished a  rate  which  varied  from  $9.00  to  $4.00  a  ton  accord- 
ing as  the  price  of  iron  was  8y2,  8*4  •  •  •  •  2/^  cents  per 
pound.  Shortly  after  the  adoption  of  the  agreement  the 
price  of  iron  fell  from  yl/2  to  4  cents  per  pound,  the  work- 
men became  dissatisfied,  terminated  the  agreement  and  ob- 
tained a  rate  of  $8.00  a  ton.  One  year  later  this  was  in- 
creased to  $9.00  a  ton,  but  at  the  end  of  the  year  1866  the 
employers  gave  notice  that  thereafter  only  $7  a  ton  would 
be  paid.  The  result  was  a  strike,  which  resulted  in  the  work- 
men securing  the  old  $9  rate.  Realizing  that  this  arrange- 
ment did  not  provide  for  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  iron,  the 


80  Recueil  dc  Rapports  sur  les  Conditions  du  Travail,  p.  78. 


Wages  of  Men  293 

employers  and  employees  signed  a  new  agreement  on  the 
twenty-third  of  July  by  which  wages  ranged  from  $8  a  ton 
when  iron  was  selling  at  5  cents  a  pound,  to  $6  when  the 
price  of  iron  was  3  cents.  In  1874  the  manufacturers  de- 
manded a  revision,  but  the  changes  they  suggested  were 
not  accepted  and  an  extensive  strike  followed  which  closed 
down  all  the  iron-works  in  the  vicinity  of  Pittsburg.  In 
April,  1875,  tne  manufacturers  accepted  the  terms  of  the 
puddlers  and  work  was  resumed,  but  owing  to  the  confused 
state  of  trade  caused  by  the  fall  in  the  price  of  iron,  general 
agreements  were  soon  afterwards  abandoned  and  each  em- 
ployer made  terms  with  his  own  workmen.  It  was  a  change 
in  the  scale  at  the  Carnegie  works  which  led  to  the  strike 
and  riot  at  Homestead  in  1892. 

In  1869  a  similar  scale  was  adopted  by  the  miners  and 
mine-owners  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  the  wages  varying 
in  accordance  with  the  price  of  coal  at  the  mine.31  The 
agreement  was  not  maintained  very  long  and  it  did  not  pre- 
vent strikes,  but  it  served  to  introduce  the  sliding-scale 
which  is  now  employed  in  almost  every  Pennsylvania  mine. 

It  would  serve  no  useful  purpose  to  multiply  illustrations 
of  sliding-scales  and  piece-rates.     It  is  very  much  harder  to 
get  an  idea  of  the  daily  earnings  of  workmen  from  piece-J 
rates  than  from  day-wages,  although  the  two  are  closely  con/  {/ 
nected.     As  Mr.  Gunton  says :     "  For  the  same  reason  tha\ 
potatoes  would  be  neither  cheaper  nor  dearer  because  they 
were  sold  by  the  peck  or  by  the  pound  are  wages  ultimately 
neither  higher  nor  lower  because  work  is  done  by  the  day 
or  by  the  piece."  32     This  relation  has  often  been  noticed  by 
economists.     Karl  Marx,  who  emphasizes  it  in  his  work  on  AkJ 
capital  asserts  that  the  laborer  gains  nothing  from  the  piece-  ly^Jf^f 
work  system  while  the  employer  reaps  a  great  advantage 
from  it.     In  reality  both  may  be  gainers  if  the  tariff  is  care- 
fully drawn  up  by  mutual  agreement.     It  should  be  ad-  I 

81  This   schedule  is  reproduced  in  the  Twelfth  Annual  Report   of 
the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  New  York. 
32  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  179. 


294  The  American  Laborer 

justed,  at  first,  so  as  to  yield  about  the  same  remuneration 
as  that  received  by  day-workers  in  the  same  trade,  and  after- 
wards there  should  be  no  objection  to  reducing  the  rate  if 
the  workman  is  supplied  with  a  more  productive  tool  or 
machine.  This  is  only  just;  the  seamstress  does  not  receive 
as  much  per  yard  now  as  she  did  when  all  her  work  was 
done  by  hand;  both  the  selling  price  and  the  cost  of  produc- 
tion must  fall  as  the  effort  required  to  produce  a  given  result 
grows  less.  But  the  seamstress  makes  more  to-day  than 
before  the  invention  of  the  sewing-machine  and  among  those 
who  operate  machines,  the  more  skillful  receive  the  higher 
wages.  Piece-rates  are  based  upon  the  productivity  of  the 
average  workman,  hence  they  put  a  premium  upon  superi- 
ority. The  sliding-scale,  which  is  much  more  difficult  to 
establish  on  a  sound  basis,  seems  to  be  a  species  of  coopera- 
tion by  which  the  workman  participates  in  the  gains  and 
losses  of  the  entrepreneur. 

Wage-statistics. — Occasionally  one  finds  an  American  who 
will  give  you  to  understand  that  his  compatriots  are  fond  of 
show,  that  they  like  to  quote  both  to  themselves  and 
strangers  the  highest  rather  than  the  lowest  wages  that  can 
be  found,  and  that  it  is  necessary  to  take  current  statistics, 
and  even  official  statistics,  with  a  grain  of  salt.  One  of 
these  gentlemen  mentioned  to  me  a  large  Massachusetts 
lock-manufactory  with  which  he  was  familiar,  in  which 
the  workmen  had  made  only  $1.25  a  day  in  1892  and 
$1  in  1893;  he  added  that  notwithstanding  this  fact  the  stat- 
isticians claimed  a  higher  rate  for  day-labor  in  this  district. 
Partizans  of  protection  are  particularly  open  to  suspicion  in 
this  matter  because  they  like  to  make  it  appear  that  labor  is 
more  highly  paid  in  America  than  in  other  countries,  that 
the  rate  of  wages  is  a  function  of  the  general  level  of  prices, 
and  that  if  the  tariff  were  reduced,  both  wages  and  prices 
would  necessarily  fall.  The  republicans  naturally  introduce 
this  argument  into  their  party  platforms  to  attract  the  votes 
of  the  laboring  classes,  but  this  does  not  prevent  them  from 
introducing  the   cheap   foreign   labor   that   debases   wages. 


Wages  of  Men  295 

But  it  is  only  just  to  add  that  the  statistical  inquiries  are 
often  addressed  to  the  wage-earners  themselves  and  that 
when  one  questions  them  with  the  view  of  bringing  out  the 
woes  of  the  proletariat,  their  replies  are  less  apt  to  embellish 
the  situation  than  to  make  it  out  worse  than  it  really  is. 

The  application  of  statistical  methods  to  the  wage-prob- 
lem requires  skill  and  judgment,  and  however  delicately 
the  operation  is  conducted,  the  results  are  merely  approxi- 
mate. This  fact  is  well  understood  by  the  economists  who 
have  studied  the  question  closely.  An  example  may  be 
quoted.  During  the  Congressional  investigation  of  the 
Homestead  strike,  the  president  of  the  Carnegie  works  pro- 
duced the  pay-rolls  for  the  month  of  May,  with  the  object  of 
showing  that  the  wages  of  the  rollers  of  119-inch  plates  had 
been  from  $10.79  to  $12.65,  and  those  of  the  shear  helpers 
$4  a  day,  on  an  average 33  The  document  was  authentic 
and  the  testimony  unimpeachable,  but  the  workmen  denied 
that  the  figures  were  sufficient  to  yield  a  representative  aver- 
age. Taking  the  figures  for  the  thirty-two  preceding 
months,  one  of  the  workmen  calculated  that  the  average 
output  was  only  1300  tons  a  month,  which  would  give  aver- 
age rates  of  $7.60  and  $2.98  respectively  for  the  two  classes 
of  workmen.34  These  were  high  wages,  but  notably  less 
than  those  resulting  from  the  May  output,  because  the 
works  had  been  shut  down  during  parts  of  the  year.85 

33  See  the  House  report:  Investigation  of  the  Labor  Troubles  at 
Homestead,  House  Reports,  52c!  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  vol.  3. 

34  Mr.  Frick  estimated  the  production  at  2500  tons  before,  and 
5000  tons  after,  the  introduction  of  the  improved  machinery. 
Whence  came  the  difference  of  opinion? 

35  In  the  Massachusetts  investigations  of  1894  the  Boston  tailorsi 
testified  that  they  made  from  $20  to  $30  a  week  in  the  busy  season! 
and  from  $15  down  to  nothing  in  the  dull  season.  In  their  testi- 
mony, the  employers  asserted  that  the  workmen  made  from  $20 
to  $25  on  an  average  of  the  whole  year,  but  they  said  nothing  of  the 
fact  that  the  tailor  often  had  to  employ  a  helper,  usually  a  woman, 
who  sometimes  cost  as  much  as  $9  a  week.  The  cotton  manu- 
facturers testified  that  there  had  been  no  marked  reduction  in  the 
cost  of  production  during  the  crisis  of  1893-1894.  This  statement 
was  denied  by  the  workmen.  See  Report  on  the  Subject  of  the  Un- 
employed, XIII,  LVII. 


296 


The  American  Laborer 


Agricultural  wages. — In  my  U  Agriculture  aux  Etats-Unis 
I  have  devoted  one  chapter  to  the  wages  of  farm-laborers. 
I  shall  confine  myself  here  to  a  resume  of  that  chapter. 

At  the  end  of  the  war  in  1866  the  monthly  wages  of  farm- 
laborers  were  about  $26.87  in  summer,  not  including  board. 
This  rate  decreased  as  the  paper  currency  gradually  ap- 
proached par  value,  until  in  1879,  at  the  resumption  of  spe- 
cie payment,  it  was  about  $16.42.  In  1882  it  had  risen  to 
$18.94  and  in  1892  was  substantially  unchanged  ($18.60). 
The  estimate  in  paper  money  produces  an  illusion  which 
still  deceives  many  people  in  America.  After  1892,  how- 
ever, a  real  reduction  occurred.38     Agricultural  wages  are 

38  This  reduction  appears  in  the  following  statement  of  average 
wages  in  agriculture,  prepared  by  Mr.  Henry  A.  Robinson  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture. 

Without  board.  With  board. 

1890 $18.34  $12.45 

1892 18.60  12.54 

1893 19.10  13.29 

1894 17.74  12.16 

1895 17.69  12.06 

Agricultural  wages  advanced  in  1898  and  1899,  although  they  did 
not  return  to  the  highest  points  reached  in  1892  and  1893.  In  the 
Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor  for  July,  1900,  pp.  694  and  695, 
may  be  found  the  wages  of  farm  laborers,  with  and  without  board, 
in  and  out  of  harvest  time,  by  the  day  and  month,  for  various  years 
since  1866.  The  monthly  rates,  board  not  included,  follow.  Ex- 
cept for  Oregon,  the  wages  of  1866,  1869  and  1875  are  expressed  in 
currency.     [Tr.] 

WAGES    PER    MONTH    WITHOUT    BOARD. 


Vermont    

Pennsylvania  . 
North  (  arolina 

Texas 

I  own 

Oregon  


29.91 
13.46 
19.00 
88.34 

35.75 


1869. 

1875. 

1879. 

1882. 

$32.40 

$29.67 

$19.00 

$23.37 

58.68 

25.89 

19.92 

22.88 

12.76 

13.46 

11.19 

12.86 

18.83 

19.50 

ls.27 

20.20 

28.39 

24.35 

22.09 

86.2] 

38.25 

35.45 

33.50 

1885. 

1888. 

$23.00 

$23.25 

88.58 

22.24 

12.85 

13  41 

is.>: 

19.20 

25.33 

25.60 

34.00 

32.56 

1890. 


$24.80 
22.80 
12.83 
19.85 
25.41 
31.60 


1892 


1893. 


Vermont  

Pennsylvania  ■• 
North  Carolina. 

Texas 

Iowa 

Oregon  


$24.67 
23.00 
13.30 

is.;.-, 

2(1.20 

34.25 


$25.55 
82.84 
12.56 

is. <ii; 

2T.it; 

30.58 


1894. 


1895. 


$23.60 
21.32 
11.73 
17.78 
85.29 
25.73 


&87  37 
81.93 

11.. Mi 
17.85 
25.52 
23.79 


1898. 


By  the 
year. 


$25.69 
80.79 
11.69 
17.34 
24.73 
87.86 


By  the 
season. 


SST.TI 

22.60 
12.51 

1S.23 
26.02 
30.78 


1899. 


By  the  By  the 
year     season. 


$26.36 
21.74 
11.96 
17.54 
26.33 
89.64 


$28.62 
23.74 
12.83 
18.43 
27.85 
32.82 


Wages  of  Men  297 

lowest  in  the  South,  the  average  rate  since  1882  being  about 
$14.50.  In  the  rest  of  the  country  the  rate  is  much  higher: 
$26.64  m  the  Eastern  States;  $23.62  in  the  Central  States; 
$32  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  States;  and  $35.50  in  the  Pa- 
cific States.  In  1892  the  rates  were  lowest  in  South  Caro- 
lina— $12.50  without,  and  $8.40  with,  board — and  highest 
in  the  State  of  Washington — $37.50  and  $25.  During  har- 
vest time  the  rate  increases  as  the  demand  increases  and  the 
harvest  hand  receives,  with  board,  $.70  a  day  in  Mississippi, 
$1.70  in  California  and  Minnesota,  etc.  The  general  aver- 
age was  $1.02." 

Mines  and  metallurgical  industries.38 — The  Sixth  Annual 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the  United  States  was 
devoted  to  the  cost  of  production  of  iron,  steel,  coal,  etc. 
I  quote  from  that  volume  the  following  figures:89  In  the 
bituminous  mines  the  average  wages  of  miners  in  one  large 
mine  were  $2.19^  per  day,  the  average  number  of  days  of 
work  100,  and  the  average  yearly  earnings  $220.  In  the 
other  mines  reported  in  which  the  miners  were  paid  by  quan- 
tity, the  annual  earnings  ranged  from  $92  to  $258.  The 
rate  per  day  of  laborers  varied  from  $1.17^2  to  $1.72. 

"r  A  French  truck-farmer  situated  near  Philadelphia  told  me  that 
in  his  work  day-laborers  received  $10  a  month  with  board  and 
lodging,  while  experienced  gardeners  made  from  $20  to  $25. 

38  The  returns  from  which  I  have  estimated  and  attempted  to  de- 
termine accurately,  so  far  as  possible,  the  wages  given  in  the  fol- 
lowing paragraphs,  are  to  be  found  in  the  publications  of  the  va- 
rious bureaus  of  labor,  almost  all  of  which  contain  some  wage- 
statistics.  I  may  mention  as  particularly  important  the  Fourth 
Biennial  Report  of  Maryland  (1890-1891);  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Report 
of  Missouri;  the  Ninth  Annual  Report  of  New  York;  the  Sixteenth 
Annual  Report  of  Ohio  (1892);  the  First  Report  of  North  Carolina 
(1887);  the  Third  Annual  Report  of  Maine  (1889).  To  these  sources 
must  be  added  the  Special  Reports  of  the  United  States  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor;  the  Report  on  Manufacturing  Industries  of  the 
Eleventh  Census;  the  various  Congressional  investigations;  the 
Rapports  de  la  delegation  ouvriere  a  l' Exposition  de  Chicago;  and 
data  that  I  myself  gathered  in  the  course  of  my  visit.  I  present 
these  statistics  by  groups  of  industries:  mines  and  metallurgical 
industries,  building  industries,  etc. 

39  See  in  particular,  Tables  XII  and  XIII. 


298  The  American  Laborer 

In  the  iron  mines  the  miners  made  from  $.82  to  $1.69,  and 
even  as  high  as  $2.37,  per  day;  underground  laborers  $1.70; 
surface  laborers  from  $.98  to  $1.65;  timbermen  from  $1.05 
to  $2.07;  carpenters  and  blacksmiths  from  $1.20  to  $2.50/° 

In  the  blast-furnaces  blacksmiths  made  from  $1.35  to 
$2.75;  drivers  from  $.60  to  $1.50;  laborers  from  $.96  to  $1.43; 
keepers  from  $1.45  to  $3.25;  keepers'  helpers  from  $1.15  to 
$1.81. 

In  the  finished  bar-iron  industry  laborers  made  $1.26; 
roughers,  $3.33  to  $3.68;  straighteners,  $.83  to  $1.35;  heat- 
ers, $5.05  to  $7.03;  heaters'  helpers,  $1.20  to  $2.66;  rollers, 
$4.29  to  $10.77. 

In  the  mixed  iron  and  steel  industry  chargers  made  from 
$1.25  to  $2.25;  gasmakers,  $1.60;  heaters,  $3.84  to  $6.91; 
heaters'  helpers,  $1.30  to  $2.25;  rollers,  $5.31  to  $7.39; 
punchers,  $.80  to  $1.93;  laborers,  $.94  to  $1.41;  masons, 
$1.35  to  ^3.72. 

In  the  metallurgical  industries  as  well  as  in  agriculture, 
wages  are  higher  in  the  North  than  in  the  South.  A  com- 
parison shows  that  the  difference,  although  not  very  great, 
is  still  distinctly  noticeable  in  the  long  run.  Thus  among 
blacksmiths  the  scale  varies  from  $1.67  to  $2.75  in  the 
North,  and  from  $1.35  to  $2.75  in  the  South;  blacksmiths' 
helpers,  $1.30  to  $1.65  in  the  North,  $1.00  to  $1.25  in  the 
South;  brakemen,  $1.50  to  $1.74  in  the  North,  $1.29  to  $1.50 
in  the  South;  carpenters,  $1.60  to  $2.50  in  the  North,  $1.50 
to  $2.48  in  the  South;  engineers  (pig-iron),  $1.54  to  $3.00 
in  the  North,  $1.75  to  $2.25  in  the  South;  foremen  (blast- 
furnaces), $2.09  to  $2.97  in  the  North,  $1.93  to  $2.48  in  the 
South.  With  respect  to  machinists  however  conditions 
seem  to  be  reversed:  in  the  North  they  made  from  $1.65  to 
$2.61  while  in  the  South  the  rate  varied  from  $2.50  to  $3.00. 


40  According  to  the  Aldrich  report  the  average  wages  in  1891  were 
$1.06  in  iron  mines,  $1.91  in  coal  mines,  $3.50  in  mines  of  precious 
metals.  Trappers  made  from  $.50  to  $.87;  drivers  from  $.65  to 
$1.95;  blacksmiths  from  $1.83  to  $2.38. 


Wages  of  Men  299 

As  shown  in  this  report41  the  wage-earners  in  the  two 
most  important  metallurgical  industries  group  themselves 
as  follows: 


Pig  iron. 

Mixed  iron 
and  steel. 

14.95 

10.79 

78.96 

71.32 

4.64 

10.02 

1.17 

5.08 

0.18 

1.44 

0.08 

0.32 

0.02 

1.03 

Per  cent,  of  all  Employees. 
Earnings  per  Day. 

Less  than  $1 

From  $1  to  82 

From    2  to    3 

From    3  to    4 

From    4  to    5 

From    5  to    6 

More  than     6 

100.00  100.00 

Low  wages  are  thus  seen  to  be  commoner  in  the  blast- 
furnaces, in  which  there  is  little  need  for  skilled  labor,  than 
in  the  steel-mills  and  iron-works  where  certain  operations, 
such  as  the  handling  of  the  large  roll-trains,  require  great 
dexterity. 

In  the  investigation  of  the  Homestead  strike  made  by  a 
committee  of  the  Senate  in  November,  1892,  the  chief  of 
the  bureau  of  labor  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company  gave  the 
following  information  in  regard  to  the  wages  of  the  work- 
men employed.  The  lowest  rate,  he  testified,  was  14  cents 
an  hour,  or  about  $1.40  a  day.  From  this  point  the  earn- 
ings gradually  rose  to  $15  or  $16  a  day  in  the  case  of  a 
few  rollers.42  When  asked  by  the  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee what  made  the  rates  so  high  the  witness  replied  that  the 
work  was  very  difficult  and  required  great  skill.  In  the 
parallel  investigation  made  by  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  Mr.  Frick,  the  president  of  the  company, 
presented  the  pay-rolls  of  the   workmen  employed  in  the 

41  Seventh  Annual  Report,  vol.  i,  p.  840  et  seq. 

42  Investigation  of  Labor  Troubles,  p.  154.  I  visited  the  Homestead 
works  which  constitute  one  of  the  greatest  establishments  of  their 
kind  in  the  world,  and  from  what  I  was  able  to  gather,  this  testi- 
mony is  substantially  accurate.  A  French  engineer  said  to  me  that 
while  the  drawers  made  $4  or  $5  a  day  and  the  head  roller  $10, 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  work  received  only  $2500  a  year. 


300  The  American  Laborer 

manufacture  of  the  largest  sized  armor-plate  (119  inches 
thick)  during  the  month  of  May,  1892.  Three  rollers  who 
worked  at  the  same  train  had  made  24,  23  and  22  days  (8 
hours  each)  respectively  during  the  month,  for  which  they 
had  received  $259.05,  $279.50  and  $278.50,  or  from  $10.79 
to  $12.65  a  day.  The  pay-roll  contained  92  names;  8  work- 
men including  the  three  rollers  mentioned,  had  each  made 
more  than  $200;  44,  from  $100  to  $199;  the  shear  helpers, 
who  received  the  lowest  pay  in  this  group,  had  made  from 
$83  to  $100,  or  about  $4  a  day.  As  the  rollers  worked  only 
eight  hours  a  day,  it  is  seen  that  they  received  almost  $1.50 
an  hour.  Their  wages  were  among  those  reduced  in  the 
new  schedule  which  caused  the  strike;  the  reduction  amount- 
ing to  nearly  fifty  per  cent.  Thus,  the  roller  who  received 
$259.05  would  have  been  able  to  make  only  about  $160.32 
and  the  shear  helper  who  made  $97,  only  about  $42  under 
the  new  schedule. 

To  the  same  roll-trains  about  200  other  workmen  were 
attached,  who  were  grouped  on  another  pay-roll.  The 
wage-scale  of  the  latter  group  was  very  much  lower  than 
that  of  the  former,  running  from  $122  (a  single  name)  to 
$40,  for  amounts  of  work  ranging  from  25  to  31  days.  The 
average  rate  of  the  276  persons  employed  on  the  largest 
armor-plates  was  $73.  I  was  struck  with  the  fact  that  while 
the  names  upon  the  first  roll  were  almost  without  excep- 
tion English,  those  upon  the  second  roll  were  Slavic,  and 
several  of  the  latter  group  had  been  employed  only  a  few 
days. 

The  manufacture  of  the  32-inch  plates  did  not  present  the 
same  difficulties  and  consequently  did  not  require  labor  of 
such  a  high  grade.  The  rollers  in  this  group  received  only 
$118.85  a  month,  the  laborers  from  $55  to  $42.  In  the 
manufacture  of  open-hearth  steel  the  ordinary  laborers  re- 
ceived about  the  same  rate,  while  the  first-class  workmen 
made  from  $100  to  $i68.43     On  an  average  the  employees 

"Labor  Troubles  at  Homestead:  House  Report,  Fifty-Second 
Congress,  second  session,  p.  5  et  seq. 


Wages  of  Men  301 

worked  270  days  a  year.  The  total  wages  for  the  month 
amounted  to  $193,150,  which  divided  by  the  3787  work- 
men, among  whom  we  must  count  a  certain  number  of  chil- 
dren and  those  adults  who  had  worked  but  a  few  days,  gives 
a  per  capita  rate  of  $51.  During  the  week  the  rolling-mills 
ran  day  and  night,  served  by  three  eight-hour  shifts.  On 
Saturday  at  three  o'clock  the  rolls  were  stopped ;  work  being 
resumed  at  eleven  o'clock  Sunday  night.  Some  of  the  men 
worked  eleven  hours  a  day. 

These  wages  were  determined  by  an  agreement  for  three 
years  made  in  July,  1889,  between  the  company  and  the 
Amalgamated  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Workers;  they 
varied  in  proportion  to  prices,  which  were  calculated  each 
six  months  by  a  mixed  committee.  The  minimum  price 
recognized  in  the  scale  was  $25  a  ton.  One  of  the  clauses 
of  the  new  schedule  reduced  this  basis  to  $22.  The  asso- 
ciation objected  to  this  on  the  grounds  that  if  the  minimum 
were  lowered  the  company  would  reduce  the  selling  price 
under  the  pressure  of  competition,  and  in  the  end,  the  dif- 
ference would  come  from  the  pockets  of  the  workmen. 

In  California  where  wages  are  high,  most  of  the  workmen 
who  responded  to  an  inquiry  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
on  this  subject,  received  from  $2.50  to  $3.50  per  day.  A 
small  minority  made  from  $5  to  $6;  a  large  number  $3;  the 
great  majority  from  $.75  to  $2.50."  As  a  general  rule  wages 
in  the  metallurgical  industries  seem  to  be  higher  in  the 
West  than  in  the  East.  Thus  in  Montana  in  1894  the  daily 
rate  varied  from  $2.72  for  laborers  up  to  $4  for  pumpers, 
carpenters,  etc.,  and  even  $5  for  refiners.45 

The  information  collected  in  the  works  which  I  visited, 
confirm  these  statistics  and  sustain  the  conclusion  that  in 
the  iron  and  steel  manufacture  there  is  a  small  body  of 
select  workmen  who  receive  very  high  wages,  ranging  from 
$6  to  $12  a  day,  a  larger  group  of  skilled  workmen  who 

44  See  Fifth  Biennial  Report  ....  California,  1891-1892. 
"  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  March,  1896,  p.  269. 


302  The  American  Laborer 

make  from  $2  to  $4  a  day,  and  a  still  larger  number  of 
laborers  who  earn  from  $1  to  $2  a  day.  According  to  the 
classification  of  wage-earners  in  the  iron  and  steel  industries, 
employed  at  the  Eleventh  Census,  $118,000  out  of  $168,943 
were  paid  to  workmen  making  from  $7  to  $15  a  week,  and 
the  general  weekly  average  was  about  $11.**  In  the  manu- 
facture of  iron  and  steel  forgings  about  one-half  the  work- 
men made  from  $10  to  $20  a  week.*7  In  the  manufacture 
of  cast-iron  pipe,  one-half  of  the  7283  workmen  made  from 
$7  to  $io,a  and  in  that  of  wrought-iron  and  steel  pipe,  5000 
out  of  11,544  workmen  made  from  $8  to  $10  a  week.  In 
the  manufacture  of  locomotives  the  average  was  above  $12. 
More  than  5000  out  of  13,342  workmen  in  the  last  named 
industry  received  from  $12  to  $25  or  more  a  week. 

Building. — If  we  except  a  small  body  of  men  like  the  steel- 
rollers  who  operate  difficult  machines,  and  a  small  number 
of  fine  artificers  who  receive  an  exceptional  compensation 
everywhere  and  particularly  in  America,  there  is  no  class  of 
trades  in  which  average  wages  are  so  high  as  in  the  building 
trades,  especially  in  the  cities.  According  to  the  Aldrich 
report,  average  daily  wages  throughout  the  United  States  in 
the  several  building  trades  were  in  1891  as  follows:  plumb- 
ers $3;  plasterers  $3.50;  carpenters  $2.61;  carpenters'  help- 
ers $1.33;  masons  $3.50;  masons'  helpers  $1.58;  bricklayers 
$3.66;  bricklayers'  helpers  $2.05;  painters  $2.43;  stone-cut- 
ters $3.64;  laborers  $1.45.  New  York  furnishes  another  in- 
structive example.  In  1893  the  forty-two  building  trades 
distinguished  in  the  reports  of  the  labor  bureau,  were 
grouped  as  follows  with  respect  to  the  amount  of  the  daily 
wage:  $4.50,  one  trade  (brownstone-cutters) ;  $4.  twelve 
trades;  $3-$3-75,  twenty-one  trades;  less  than  $3.  eight 
trades.  In  five  of  these  the  working-day  was  nine  hours 
long;  in  the  ethers,  it  was  eight  hours;  none  worked  more 
than  eight  hours  on  Saturday.     In  twelve  trades,  then,  the 


**  Report  on  Manufacturing  Industries,  iii,  p.  390. 

"Ibid.,  p.  425.  "Ibid.,  p.  489- 


Wages  of  Men  303 

hourly  rate  was  50  cents;  in  the  lowest  ranks,  which  contain 
only  helpers  and  laborers,  the  rate  was  25  cents."  The 
labor  bureau  of  Ohio  calculated  (1892)  that  wages  in  the 
building  trades  varied  from  $4.50  (bricklayers)  to  $1.75  (lath- 
ers).    The  average  was  about  $3. 

Ten  years  previous,  before  the  committee  of  the  Senate 
on  Education  and  Labor,  a  carpenter  testified  that  wages  in 
his  trade  were  on  the  average  of  the  whole  United  States 
from  $2.50  to  $3.00,  $3.50  in  New  York,  and  from  $2.50  to 
$3.00  in  Washington,  although  the  cost  of  living  was  not 
less  in  Washington  than  in  New  York.  On  account  of  the 
time  lost,  he  continued,  carpenters  only  made  about  $455  a 
year,  and  in  consequence  they  had  only  about  $1.45  a  day 
for  all  their  expenses.50  At  the  same  epoch  stonecutters 
made  $3.50  a  day  at  New  York  and  from  $2.50  to  $3.00  in 
Massachusetts.61  A  granite-cutter  who  made  $3  himself 
testified  that  in  his  opinion  $2.75  was  about  the  average 
rate  in  Massachusetts.52  At  the  same  investigation  a  brick- 
layer testified  that  the  New  York  rate  (from  $4  to  $5)  which 
seems  very  high,  was  nevertheless  exceeded  in  several 
places,  rising  as  high  as  $7  and  $8  a  day  in  Kansas,  where 
a  great  deal  of  building  was  being  done.  He  added  that  the 
existing  rate  in  New  York  did  not  seem  sufficient  to  pay 
for  the  rent  and  the  necessities  of  life;  $5  would  not  be  too 
much,  he  thought,  because  bricklayers  could  only  work 
from  seven  to  nine  months  a  year.  The  unions,  he  said, 
were  working  for  this  higher  rate  and  at  the  same  time,  for 
the  introduction  of  the  eight-hour  day. 


48  Data  furnished  by  Mr.  Stevens,  assistant-chief  of  the  Bureau 
of  Labor  of  the  State  of  New  York.  [In  the  three  months  ending 
September  30,  1898,  the  twenty-nine  trades  reporting  grouped  them- 
selves as  follows:  three  trades  $4  to  $5  a  day,  eleven  trades  $3  to 
$4,  fourteen  trades  $2  to  $3,  one  trade  $1  to  $2.  The  unions  were 
divided  as  follows,  with  reference  to  the  length  of  the  working- 
day:  145  unions  eight  hours  a  day,  6  unions  from  eight  to  nine 
hours,  97  unions  nine  hours,  3  unions  from  nine  to  ten  hours,  23 
unions  ten  hours  or  more.] 

'""Labor  and  Capital,  i,  553.  a  Ibid.,  i,  665.  "Ibid.,  iii.  547. 


y 


304  The  American  Laborer 

Although  more  than  fifteen  years  old  the  figures  and  the 
reflections  of  the  bricklayers  are  worth  preserving.  While 
we  in  France  are  astonished  to  see  wages  rise  so  high,  those 
who  enjoy  the  high  wages  find  them  scarcely  sufficient  to 
cover  their  needs.  The  elasticity  of  man's  wants  has  no 
limit.  While  passing  a  house  that  was  building  in  Sault- 
Sainte-Marie  I  questioned  the  men,  some  of  whom  were  Ca- 
nadians, about  their  wages.  The  bricklayers  made  $2.50  a 
day;  "  but,"  added  one,  "  the  man  that  can't  handle  his  level 
only  gets  $1.50."  This  is  quite  a  remove  from  the  $5  as- 
serted to  be  necessary  ten  years  before.  But  Sault-Sainte- 
Marie  is  not  a  large  city.58 

From  private  information  which  I  received,  it  may  be 
stated  that  glass-workers  received  $27  a  week  in  Chicago 
during  the  exposition — but  these  men  may  almost  be  called 
artists.  Roofers  and  painters  made  35  cents  an  hour,  i.  <?., 
$2.80  per  day  of  eight  hours  and  $3.15  for  nine  hours.  La- 
borers in  the  same  lines  made  from  $1.25  to  $2.00,  on  an 
average  about  $10  a  week,  nearly  as  much  as  in  New  York. 
The  contract  made  with  the  employers  in  1893,  a  copy  of 
which  I  have  before  me,  provides  for  a  rate  of  25  cents  an 
hour,  or  $2  per  day  of  eight  hours.  In  general  the  con- 
tracts prohibit  workmen  from  accepting  less  than  the  stand- 
ard wage,  stipulate  that  overtime  shall  be  paid  at  a  higher 

53  In  Port  Arthur,  situated  at  the  other  end  of  Lake  Superior,  the 
bricklayers  receive  $4  a  day,  because,  as  a  merchant  of  that  place 
told  me,  it  is  necessary  to  "  import "  them.  Carpenters  are  paid 
$2.50  and  laborers  $1.50.  During  the  construction  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway,  the  company,  which  was  obliged  by  its  franchise 
to  finish  the  road  at  a  stipulated  date,  could  not  obtain  enough 
workmen,  and  for  years  they  paid  enormous  wages  in  order  to  at- 
tract labor.  From  time  to  time  groups  of  workmen  came  to  Port 
Arthur  to  spend  the  night  and  throw  away  their  wages  in  various 
forms  of  debauchery,  so  that  at  night  the  streets  were  unsafe  for 
women.  Thirty-two  hotels  were  built,  of  which  only  fourteen  re- 
mained when  I  was  there.  The  merchants  got  almost  anything 
they  asked  for  their  wares:  the  one  who  communicated  these  facts 
to  me  had  to  replace  his  stock  three  times  during  the  winter  of 
1883.  and  it  was  during  that  time  that  he  had  gained  the  small  for- 
tune which  he  possessed. 


Wages  of  Men  305 

rate,  and  that  workmen  shall  receive  carfare  when  the  work 
is  at  distant  places.  The  highest  wages  mentioned  in 
these  agreements  are  those  of  mosaists  who  received  $4  a 
day.  In  the  manufacture  of  clothing,  machine-cutters  re- 
ceived nearly  as  much — from  $20  to  $24  a  week. 

In  general,  however,  the  rates  seem  to  be  a  little  lower  in 
Chicago  than  New  York  because  the  cost  of  living  is  some- 
what higher  in  the  latter  place.  The  masons,  however,  who 
without  exercising  any  artistic  skill  ordinarily  make  from 
$3.50  to  $4.00  a  day,  demanded  as  high  as  $8  during  the 
construction  of  the  exposition  buildings.  In  some  instances 
carpenters  were  paid  $9  a  day,  and  when  I  was  in  Chicago 
in  August,  1893,  they  still  asked  from  $5  to  $6." 

Public  works. — In  the  Massachusetts  investigation  upon 
the  subject  of  the  unemployed  Prof.  Dewey  prepared  a  com- 
parative table  showing  the  wages  of  employees  on  public 
works  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  United  States.  The 
wages  paid  to  workmen  employed  directly  by  the  munici- 
pality are,  as  a  general  rule,  a  little  higher  than  those  paid 
by  employers  doing  work  for  the  city  under  contract.  The 
great  majority  of  rates  are  between  $1  and  $2,  the  average 
being  somewhere  between  $1.50  and  $1.60." 

Street-cleaners  make  about  the  same  wages.  In  New 
York  in  1893  they  were  paid  from  $1.50  to  $1.75  a  day  and 
on  the  average  made  $11.50  a  week  for  seven  days'  work. 
This  is  an  occupation  in  which  the  supply  of  workmen 
largely  exceeds  the  demand.  I  asked  one  mason's  laborer 
what  the  men  in  his  trade  did  during  the  idle  season. 
"  Sweep  streets,  if  they  have  a  good  political  pull,"  he  ari- 


64  A  Frenchman  who  erected  some  of  the  buildings  at  the  expo- 
sition said  to  me  that  the  high  wages  did  not  make  the  men  do 
better  work.  The  joiners  demanded  45  cents  an  hour,  he  said,  and 
would  not  strike  a  blow  after  the  eight-hour  bell  had  rung,  al- 
though many  of  them  did  not  know  their  trade.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  way  in  which  the  partitions  were  put  together  did  not 
speak  very  strongly  in  their  favor. 

55  "  Wages  of  Workmen  Employed  on   Public  Works  in  1893  by 


30G  The  American  Laborer 

swered.     At  that  time  Tammany  Hall  was  in  control  of  the 
city. 

Vehicles. — In  one  carriage  factory  in  New  York,  which  I 
visited,  the  better  workmen  gained  on  an  average  about 

I,  $2.75  per  day;  almost  ail  the  work  was  by  piece.  The  owner 
of  the  establishment,  an  ex-employee,  regarded  this  as  better 
than  day-work.  "  The  workman  who  works  for  himself 
and  has  nobody  around  watching  to  see  that  he  gives  an 
hour's  work  every  hour  and  does  a  day's  work  every  day, 
is  more  of  a  man,"  he  said  to  me.  As  in  most  other  shops 
the  rate  per  piece  was  the  same  for  all  employees.     Some  of 

^  the  workmen,  several  painters  for  example,  were  more  care- 
ful than  the  rest,  took  more  time  to  finish  their  work,  and 
consequently  made  less.  The  employer  had  wished  to  make 
some  allowance  for  their  conscientiousness,  and  had  even 
offered  one  of  them  a  premium  of  25  per  cent.  But  the 
other  workmen  objected;  they  wanted  the  same  rate  for  all. 
"  Some  of  the  preferences  of  the  workman,"  added  the  own- 
er, "are  very  singular,  and  cannot  be  explained."'  In 
another  New  York  factory  which  manufactures  principally 
a  fine  grade  of  carriages,  the  wages  vary  from  $2.50  to  $7. 
and  some  of  the  men  even  make  $10.  One  manufacturer  of 
«treet-cars  at  New  York  who  employed  400  men  in  1893, 

Cities."    (From  the  Report  upon  the  Subject  of  the  Unemployed,  Bos- 
ion,  1895,  p.  37): 

Cities.  t  it v  work.  Contract  work. 

Boston S2.00  Sl.25-f3.00 

:  all  River 2.00  1.25-2.00 

Lowell fl.75-S2.00  1.25-2.00 

Lynn 1.75-  2.00  1.25-  2.00 

New  Bedford 1.50-  2.00  $1.50 

Waltham 1.50-2.25  1.50 

New  York 1.76-2.00  1.50-2.00 

Brooklyn 1.50-1.75  1.00-1.50 

Baltimore SI. 66  1.00-1.50 

Washington 1.25-  1.50  1.00-   1.25 

Atlanta 0.80-1.00  1.00-1.25 

Buffalo SI. 50  SI. 50 

Indianapolis 1.40  1.25-   1.75 

Chicago 1.50  SI. 25 

Minneapolis 1.75  1.75 

"Labor  and  Capital,  ii,  1125. 


Wages  of  Men  307 

gave  apprentices  $3  a  week  during  the  first  year  and  grad- 
ually increased  this  rate,  usually  by  50  cents  a  year,  until 
they  were  earning  $7  a  week  when  they  become  journeymen. 
A  fair  workman  paid  by  the  day  made  from  $9  to  $15  a 
week ;  the  piece-workers — and  the  better  workmen  generally 
worked  this  way — made  from  $10  to  $30  a  week.  The  re- 
lations between  the  employees  and  the  personnel  in  this  con- 
cern were  of  the  best;  there  had  never  been  any  trouble  with 
the  unions  and  certain  employees  had  been  in  the  service 
more  than  thirty  years.  One  of  the  men — this  is  a  rare  oc- 
currence in  America — had  been  with  them  more  than  forty 
years. 

The  largest  manufactory  of  railroad  coaches  in  America — 
the  Pullman  works — paid  its  employees  $2.61  on  an  average 
in  1893,  the  scale  varying  from  $4.75  for  hammersmiths, 
who  make  the  highest  wages,  down  to  $1.00  for  wood-ma- 
chinists who  received  the  lowest  wages.  An  account  of  the 
town  and  its  works,  published  with  the  approval  of  the  Pull- 
man Company,  stated  that  in  1892  the  piece-workers  who 
worked  ten  hours  a  day  made  from  $2  to  $4,  and  that  the 
average  annual  earnings  per  employee  were  $6oo.57 

In  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  all  the  work  is  done 
by  piece.  The  boss  of  a  gang  takes  the  work  at  a  gross 
rate  fixed  by  the  schedule  of  the  company  and  in  turn  regu- 
lates the  rates  of  the  individual  workmen  in  his  gang.  The 
boys  who  are  employed  as  helpers  begin  at  $2.16  a  week 
(4  cents  an  hour)  and  rise  to  $3.50  before  finishing  their  ap- 
prenticeship; laborers  make  $9  a  week;  machinery  adjusters 
$12  a  week  working  by  the  day,  as  high  as  $24  at  piece- 
work; molders  $12  to  $24;  ordinary  blacksmiths  $15  to  $28; 
hammermen  $35  to  $40;  foremen  $40.  While  in  America 
I  met  an  Alsatian  who  had  worked  at  Lyons  but  who  had 
been  in  America  for  many  years,  and  had  risen  to  be  boss 
of  a  gang  of  hammermen.     He  made  nearly  $40  a  week." 

"  The  Town  of  Pullman,  pp.  55  and  74. 

"The  following  table  showing  the  movement  of  wages  in  Penn- 


308  The  American  Laborer 

In  one  shipyard  in  New  York  the  skilled  workman  made 
in  1882  from  $3  to  $3.50  a  day  or  from  $15.60  to  $21.00  a 
week;  the  day-laborers  made  not  less  than  $1.25.  Accord- 
ing to  the  census  of  1890  out  of  24,611  workmen  employed 
in  shipbuilding,  one-half  (12,508)  made  from  $12  to  $20  a 
week. 

Food- products. — According  to  statistics  covering  48  cities, 
prepared  in  1890  by  the  Journeymen  Baker's  and  Confec- 
tioner's International  Union  of  America,  the  average  wages 
of  first-class  bakers  were  $14.16  a  week;  $11.12  for  second- 
class  workmen;  $9.83  in  the  third-class;  $8.96  in  the  fourth- 
class  (this  figure  the  statistician  thought  a  little  too  high); 
and  $10.04  for  pastry-cooks.  The  general  average  was 
$12.05;  tne  average  day,  iol/2  hours.  In  1881  the  average 
working-day  was  16^3  hours  and  the  average  wage  $8.20 
a  week.  First-class  English  or  American  bakers  received 
$20  a  week  at  San  Francisco;  Germans  of  the  same  class, 
$14.  In  general,  the  wages  in  this  trade  were  highest  in 
California,  although  at  Seattle,  Washington,  the  first-class 
rate  was  $21.04.  The  lowest  rate,  $6  for  fourth-class  work- 
men, was  found  at  San  Antonio  and  Brooklyn.  Immigra- 
tion has  probably  exercised  some  influence  upon  the  rate  in 
Brooklyn.69 

sylvania  between  1892  and  1898,  is  taken  from  the  report  Industrial 
Statistics  of  Pennsylvania,  vol.  xxvi,  pp.  125-147. 

•Nnmhpr  Average  Average 

Mimper  Yearly  Earnings.  Daily  Wage. 

industry.  Establish-      * ,  • ' . 

ments.  jg&.  jggs.  1892.  189S. 

Locomotives  and  engines      14         $598.90         $576.74         $1.96         -?1.92 

Engines  and  boilers 6  536.72  503.87  1.66  1.66 

Boilers 7  41«.».41  36S.12  1.51  1.33 

Car  springs 1  675.:;!;  679.73  2.17  2.38 

Car  couplers 1  545.00  449.43  1.76  1.48 

Cars  and  car  wheels 8  533.11  535.49  1.77  1.80 

Ship  building 1  550.80  490.73  1.78  1.60 

In  five  of  the  seven  industries  wages  were  higher  in  1898  than  in 
1897.     [Tr.] 

58  The  average  weekly  earnings  (deduction  made  for  lost  time)  of 
employees  in  manufactories  of  food-products  in  Wisconsin  in  1897, 
was  $8.16.  This  was  a  slight  decrease  in  comparison  with  the  pre- 
ceding year.     [Tr.] 


Wages  of  Men  309 

One  of  the  great  milling  concerns  which  I  visited  in  Min- 
neapolis pays  its  500  employees  $2.25  a  day  on  an  average. 
The  highest  wages  are  received  by  the  superintendents  of 
elevators  (average  rate  $3.99)  and  the  millers  ($3.16  on  an 
average).  The  lowest  rate  is  that  received  by  the  sweep- 
ers ($1.77).  The  engineers  and  firemen  make  from  $2  to 
$3  (mean  rate  $2.45). 

One  of  the  largest  industries  of  Chicago  is  that  represent- 
ed by  the  packing-houses.  The  wages  are  good,  although 
there  are  many  more  Poles,  Germans,  and  Irishmen  em- 
ployed, than  Americans.  But  the  work  is  rough,  the  day 
long — lasting  from  ten  to  twelve  hours  except  on  Saturday 
when  they  close  earlier — and  in  winter  the  men  often  have 
to  work  on  Sundays.  The  latter  is  the  only  form  of  over- 
time which  is  paid  at  double  rates.  The  pork-killers  receive 
from  $2  to  $3  per  day  of  ten  hours ;  sheepskin-dressers  about 
$2  (from  17^2  to  20  cents  an  hour);  laborers  $1.75.  I  found 
but  one  rate  upon  the  pay-rolls  of  less  than  $1,  and  one  of 
$1.  They  were  for  boys  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  old.  The 
women  in  the  packing  room,  all  of  whom  work  by  piece, 
make  on  an  average  $12  a  week. 

One  of  the  largest  breweries  in  the  world,  situated  at  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.,  employs  1800  workmen  and  pays  them  on  an 
average  $2.25  for  a  day  of  ten  hours  (nine  on  Saturday).80 
The  brewers  get  $60  a  month ;  the  skilled  workmen  from  $2 
to  $3  a  day;  the  laborers  from  $1.50  to  $1.75  a  day;  the 
apprentices  begin  at  their  fourth  month  to  receive  a  salary 
of  $3  a  week,  gradually  rise  to  $6  a  week  in  the  fourth  year, 
and  at  the  end  of  their  apprenticeship  receive  a  gift  of  $100." 

80  The  engineers  work  only  eight  hours. 

n  I  note  the  following  additional  examples:  At  New  York  work- 
men in  the  breweries  make  from  $30  to  $100  a  month,  although 
only  a  small  number  receive  the  higher  rates. 

In  the  Senatorial  inquest  of  1883  the  cigar-makers'  unions  fur- 
nished the  various  average-rates  which  had  obtained  among  their 
workmen.  The  differences  are  marked,  the  extremes  being  $5  and 
$16,  though  only  a  small  number  received  the  extreme  rates.  The 
$if>rate  was  paid   only  in  Brattleboro,   Vt.,   and  Springfield,   111.; 


310 


The  American  Laborer 


Textile  industries. — In  both  the  United  States  and  Eu- 
rope the  cotton  manufacture  is  one  of  those  industries  in 
which  the  pay  is  moderate.  Thus  the  great  investigation  of 
the  cost  of  production  82  which  was  carried  out  with  so  much 
accuracy  and  scrupulous  care  for  details,  showed  that  in  the 
cotton  and  woolen  manufactures  three-fifths  of  the  opera- 
tives made  not  more  than  $i  a  day  and  that  only  three  per 
cent  received  more  than  $2.  In  the  iron  and  steel  works 
about  17  per  cent  made  $2  or  more  a  day.  According  to 
the  census  of  1890  the  average  weekly  wages  of  male  opera- 
tors in  the  principal  States  were  as  follows:"3 


States. 

Cotton. 

Wool. 

States. 

Cotton. 

Wool. 

Massachusetts  . 

$8.05 

$8.79 

New  Jersey.  . .  . 

10.44 

8.51 

Maine 

7.52 
7.56 

8.79 
8.67 

Pennsylvania  .  . 

9.71 
5.75 

9.84 

New  Hampshire 

7.35 

Connecticut  . . . 

7.68 

8.93 

North  Carolina. 

5.25 

7.56 

Rhode  Island  . . 

7.99 

8.98 

South  Carolina. 

5.17 

New  York 

7.62 

8.09 

The  general  average  calculated  in  the  Aldrich  Report  is 
somewhat  lower  than  that  indicated  in  the  table,  being  $1.13 
a  day  in  the  cotton,  and  $1.17  in  the  woolen,  industries. 

The  special  reports  on  the  textile  industries  at  the  census 
of  1890  contain  several  tables  which  furnish  precise  data. 
In  the  woolen  industry  the  average  wages  of  skilled  work- 
men were  $9.02,  the  extreme  average  rate  being  $12.89  in 
Oregon  and  $6.02  in  Arkansas;  women  averaged  $5.94; 
children  $3.34;  unskilled  labor  $8.41.  In  general  the  rates 
in  Pennsylvania  were  higher  than  in  other  States  and  those 


almost  all  the  others  ranged  between  $10  and  $12.  In  the  non- 
union factories,  the  witnesses  claimed,  the  rates  varied  between  $5 
and  $8.  It  seems  that  in  Pennsylvania  they  were  as  low  as  $2.00 
to  $6.00.  In  one  large  tobacco  manufactory  in  St.  Louis,  which  I 
visited,  the  average  daily  rate  (for  men  and  women)  was  $1.25.  The 
carpenters  made  $5  and  the  engineers  $3.50. 

"  Sixth  and  Seventh  Annual  Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor 
of  the  United  States. 

63  Taken  from  the  Bulletin  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool 
Manufacturers,  vol.  xxv,  p.  267.  The  inferiority  of  wages  in  the 
South  shows  itself  here  as  in  other  industries. 


W ages  of  Men  311 

in  the  carpet  manufacture  higher  than  in  other  branches  of 
the  industry.  In  the  cotton  industry  skilled  workmen  made 
on  an  average  $7.62,  the  various  rates  ranging  from  $8.68 
in  the  Central  States  to  $5.49  in  the  South.  In  the  silk  in- 
dustry, spinners  and  weavers  made  from  $6.00  to  $15.74; 
women  from  $4.71  to  $11.28.  In  general  the  highest  wages 
were  made  in  the  ribbon  manufacture.64  To  these  general 
figures  I  append,  as  in  the  metallurgical  industries,  a  few 
more  specific  statistics  which  I  have  gathered  from  various 
sources." 

In  the  woolen  mills  at  Chelsea,  Mass.,  the  overseers  made 
from  $2.50  to  $5.00,  and  on  an  average,  $3  a  day.  The 
wages  were:  $1.75  in  the  carding  departments,  $1.75  in  the 
spinning  departments,  $1.33  in  the  weaving  departments 
(from  $.90  to  $2.00) .M  These  statistics  although  more  than 
fifteen  years  old  may  be  utilized  here  as  were  the  corre- 
sponding figures  in  the  metallurgical  industries.  They  are 
instructive  in  connection  with  the  following  more  recent 
statistics. 


**  Report  on  the  Manufacturing  Industries  of  the  United  States  at  the 
Eleventh  Census,  pp.  134,  174,  220. 

65  At  the  Amory  Manufacturing  Co.'s  works,  in  which  half  of  the 
operatives  were  Irish,  and  a  third  Canadian,  the  weavers  averaged 
$1.08  a  day  in  1883.  {Labor  and  Capital,  iii,  28.)  In  the  Stark  Mills 
the  workmen  in  the  carding  department  made  on  an  average  about 
$1.25  a  day;  in  the  weaving  department  the  men  made  $1.56,  $1.10, 
$.91;  the  women  $.84  and  $.74;  the  children  $.69. 

Mr.  Henri  Schaeffer  has  had  the  kindness  to  collect  and  send  to 
me  the  wages  in  these  two  factories  in  1896.  At  the  Amory  Manu- 
facturing Company  the  rates  were  as  follows:  carding  department, 
$1.15  men,  $1.05  women;  spinners  (frame),  $.80  to  $.95;  spinners 
(mule)  $1.95,  and  75  and  45  cents  respectively  for  the  two  helpers. 
In  the  weaving  department  the  rate  varies  from  $1.15  to  $1.42  ac- 
cording as  the  operatives  tend  from  4  to  8  looms,  while  weavers 
using  the  Northrup  loom  make  as  high  as  $1.66.  During  the  month 
of  July  the  average  earnings  of  the  1150  employees  were  $29.  In  the 
Stark  Mills  which  manufacture  principally  cotton  duck  and  bag- 
ging, the  wages  varied  from  $1.66  (weavers)  to  $1.02  (carders)  and 
$.91  (spoolers).  It  may  be  stated  that  wages  in  these  two  estab- 
lishments had  undergone  no  substantial  change  for  ten  years. 

68  Labor  and  Capital,  iii,  319. 


312  The  American  Laborer 

From  very  accurate  data  which  a  woolen  manufacturer  of 
Lowell  was  kind  enough  to  gather  for  me  by  questioning 
his  foreman  and  employees  it  appears  that  the  average 
workman  made  about  $300  a  year  which,  with  the  wages  of 
his  children,  brought  the  annual  income  of  the  family  up  to 
$825.  The  wool-sorter  made  $624  and  this  increased  by  the 
wages  of  one  child,  made  the  earnings  of  the  family  $749. 
The  foreman  received  $1250,  but  he  was  the  only  wage- 
earner  of  the  family. 

In  another  typical  woolen  factory  in  Lowell  the  workmen 
(by  day)  made  from  "$1.25  to  $1.50  a  day;  the  average 
weekly  wages  of  weavers  (by  piece)  were  $9  for  men,  $7  for 
women.  In  another  well-appointed  dyeing  and  bleaching 
establishment  of  Philadelphia  the  average  rate  varied  from 
$5  to  $18  per  week  for  time-workers  and  from  $5  to  $22 
for  piece-workers.  In  the  former  class  the  average  wages  of 
men  were  $12.57  and  of  women  $7.43;  in  the  latter  class  the 
men  averaged  $11.90,  and  the  women  $6.80.  In  a  finely 
equipped  spinning  mill  in  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  in  which  the 
employees  work  ten  hours  and  a  half  except  on  Saturday 
when  work  stops  one  hour  earlier,  most  of  the  operatives 
are  Irish  or  Canadian.  The  following  wages  are  paid:  in 
the  spinning  department;  from  $14.40  to  $19.59  a  week  (av- 
erage $16.47)  to  men,  from  $6.00  to  $7.50  to  women,  from 
$4.80  to  $5.15  to  children;  in  the  carding  department  from 
$11.25  to  $16.38  to  men,  and  $8.25  on  an  average  to  women. 
In  the  Howland  Mill  one  "  mule-spinner  "  made  as  high  as 
$19  a  week,  but  the  other  employees  made  from  $4.61  to 
$15.00.  On  the  books  of  one  of  the  largest  cotton  factories 
in  Massachusetts  I  found  the  following  rates  of  wages: 
weavers,  $9  a  week  on  an  average;  spinners  (men),  $11.15; 
engineers,  $12.75;  firemen,  $10;  teamsters,  $9.00;  laborers, 
$7;  children,  from  $10  to  $16  a  month.  In  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal Rhode  Island  firms  I  found  almost  exactly  the  same 
rates:  $12.75  f°r  engineers:  $11.15  f°r  spinners;  $9  for 
weavers;  $7  for  laborers.  The  scale  runs  from  $2.10  to 
$1.15  in  both  places. 


Wages  of  Men  313 

It  may  be  worth  while,  without  going  into  detail,  to  con- 
trast the  rates  in  the  South  and  the  extreme  West  with  those 
in  New  England.  In  California,  according  to  the  Fifth 
Biennial  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  that  State,  the  scale 
runs  from  $3.50  to  $.60,  with  an  average  working  day  of  ten 
hours  and  three-quarters.  According  to  the  Fifth  Report 
of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  North  Carolina  the  rates  in  that 
State  van-  from  $3  to  $1.50  for  operatives,  with  an  average 
rate  of  75  cents  for  helpers  and  laborers.  The  working- 
day  in  North  Carolina  is  from  eleven  to  thirteen  hours." 

A  print-cloth  factory  in  Lowell  which  I  inspected,  and 
whose  workmen  are  of  the  highest  grade,  pays  the  engravers 
which  it  employs  from  $25  to  §2j  a  week  and  the  printers 
$28  and  more,  but  an  apprenticeship  of  seven  years  is  re- 
quired before  a  workman  makes  more  than  $20  a  week.6* 
These  workmen  belong  to  the  Calico  Printers'  Union  which 
requires  employers  to  pay  half-wages  during  periods  of  non- 
employment.  The  laborers  in  this  factory,  as  elsewhere, 
make  from  $6  to  $9  a  week.  The  normal  working-week  is 
fifty-eight  hours,  and  overtime  is  paid  twenty-five  per  cent 
extra. 

Clothing. — In  America,  as  in  Europe,  the  members  of  this 
occupation  receive  comparatively  small  wages.  In  New 
York  before  the  Civil  War  tailors  made  from  $8  to  $10  a 
week,  working  at  home  and  assisted  by  their  wives.     They 

"  Mr.  Henri  Schaeffer  has  communicated  to  me  a  detailed  state- 
ment of  the  wages  paid  at  the  Manchester  Mills,  New  Hampshire, 
in  July,  1896.  During  the  month  the  2770  employees  received 
$70,455,  an  average  of  about  $25^  for  men,  women  and  children. 
The  working-day  was  ten  hours  long  and  the  average  time  made  in 
July,  23  days.  In  the  carding  department  the  men  made  $1  a  day; 
in  the  spinning  department,  the  spinners  made  $1.35  and  the  help- 
ers 80  cents;  laborers  made  $1.15  and  overseers  $3.49.  In  the 
printing  department  the  wages  were  high,  $36  a  month  on  an  aver- 
age with  an  average  working-day  of  g2/i  hours.  In  the  latter  de- 
partment the  overseers  made  $5.62,  the  engravers  $4.16,  the  print- 
ers $4.47,  and  the  dyers  $1.75. 

88  During  the  first  year  printer's  apprentices  receive  $7  a  week; 
during  the  second  year  $9;  during  the  third  $11,  etc. 


314  The  American  Laborer 

do  two  or  three  times  as  much  work  now  as  they  did  then, 
but  the  rate  per  piece  has  been  considerably  reduced:  a  fine 
child's  jacket  which  cost  $3  to  make  in  1873,  cost  or,ly  $* 
in  1883.  At  the  latter  epoch  tailors  made  $8  or  $9  a  week 
and  women  working  at  the  machine  made  nearly  as  much, 
while  button-hole  workers  working  by  hand  could  only 
earn  about  $3  or  $4.  Although  money-wages  were  as  high 
in  1883  as  before  the  introduction  of  the  sewing-machine 
(about  1854),  said  a  witness  before  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Education  and  Labor,  this  amount  of  money  would  only 
buy  about  half  as  much  in  1883  as  in  i854.09  But  the  wit- 
ness did  not  specify  the  commodities  which  were  so  much 
cheaper  at  the  earlier  date:  it  would  be  something  of  a  task 
to  show  that  prices  had  risen  in  this  proportion  during  the 
interval  in  question.  In  1883  cutters  made  $15  a  week. 
Before  the  invention  of  the  cutting  machine  and  while  prices 
were  inflated  by  the  depreciation  of  the  paper  currency,  cut- 
ters had  made  as  high  as  $30  a  week  in  New  York.70 

However,  wages  in  this  industry  do  not  seem  to  be  lower 
than  in  previous  years.  In  Philadelphia  in  1893,  as  I  was 
informed  by  a  French  resident  of  that  city,  union  tailors 
made  from  $18  to  $20  a  week,  and  non-union  tailors  from 
$10  to  $15.  A  contract  signed  in  1893  by  the  ready-made 
clothing  manufacturers  of  Chicago  and  their  workmen,  pro- 
vides that  cutters  shall  receive  from  $15  to  $24  a  week,  ac- 
cording to  the  kind  of  work,  for  fifty-eight  hours.  Cutters, 
however,  have  always  received  the  highest  rates  in  this  in- 
dustry.71 

Printing  and  engraving. — The  members  of  this  trade  are 
more  highly  remunerated  than  those  of  the  clothing  trades, 
although  the  scale  of  wages  is  not  the  highest  in  the  United 
States. 

The  International  Typographical  Union  enforces  a  slid- 

™  Labor  and  Capital,  i,  414,  417.  10  Ibid.,  p.  748. 

11  For  further  information  upon  the  wages  and  conditions  of 
labor  in  this  industry,  see  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  chap,  vii,  pt.  i. 


Wages  of  Men  315 

ing-scale  whose  rates  vary  in  different  places.  The  lowest 
rate  for  compositors,  from  $9  to  $11  a  week,  obtains  in  35 
localities;  the  average  rate  which  applies  to  167  localities  is 
between  $12  and  $18;  in  37  localities  it  is  higher.  In  Bos- 
ton it  is  $15;  in  Philadelphia  $16;  in  New  York,  Chicago 
and  St.  Louis,  it  is  $18.  Compositors  in  the  government 
printing  office  in  Washington  receive  $19.20  a  week.™ 

When  I  was  in  New  York,  and  went  through  the  press 
rooms  of  the  World  and  Tribune,  the  hand-compositors  on 
these  papers  received  50  cents  a  thousand  ems;  compositors 
working  with  the  old  machine  were  paid  a  rate  equivalent  to 
2y  cents  a  thousand,  and  those  who  used  the  new  machine 
about  21  cents  a  thousand.  The  fixed  rate  for  night  work 
and  overtime  was  85  cents.  The  compositors  on  the  World 
who  worked  six  nights  a  week,  eight  hours  each  night,  re- 
ceived $27. 

Work  on  the  type-setting  machines  is  usually  paid  by  the 
day — $5  or  $6,  at  a  rate  determined  by  the  earnings  of  the 
hand-compositors.  It  is  not  paid  by  quantity  because  the 
workmen  did  not  care  to  reduce  the  tariff  and  the  employ- 
ers on  their  side  did  not  wish  to  pay  the  usual  rates  per 
thousand  ems.  Until  the  present  time  union  workmen  have 
steadily  refused  to  work  in  shops  in  which  more  than  a  cer- 
tain number  of  machines  per  workman  were  used.73  Com- 
positors working  by  the  day  receive  on  average  about  $3.50. 

72  Rapport  de  la  delegation  ouvriere  a  l Exposition  dc  Chicago,  p.  61. 
According  to  the  Aldrich  report  the  average  wages  of  compositors 
were  $2.53  a  day  in  1891.  [Compositors  in  the  government  print- 
ing office  now  receive  50  cents  an  hour.] 

Between  1864  and  1890  the  variations  in  the  rate  of  wages  of 
book-compositors  at  Troy,  according  to  the  bureau  of  labor  of 
New  York,  were  as  follows: 

1864 $11.00  1876-1877 $17.00 

1865-1867 13.00  1877 17.00 

1868 17.00  1878-1885 15.00 

1874-1875 18.00  1886-1890 16.00 

73  This  statement  is  hardly  correct  at  present.  While  testifying 
before  the  Industrial  Commission  President  Donnelly  of  the  Inter- 
national Typographical  Union  was  asked:  "Do  you  think  there 
are  as  many  printers  employed  to-day  as  there  were  before  the  in- 


316  The  American  Laborer 

In  1883  the  representative  of  the  federation  of  typograph- 
ical unions,  then  assembled  in  Chicago,  stated  that  wages 
had  decreased  in  the  preceding  decade.  He  attributed  this 
diminution  to  the  crisis  of  1873  and  complained  that  the 
workmen  had  found  it  impossible  to  restore  the  old  rates,  in 
spite  of  their  strikes.  They  used  to  get  55  cents  per  thous- 
and ems,  he  said,  but  at  that  time  the  rate  was  not  over  40 
cents,  or  about  $2.50  a  day.  But  this  delegate  probably 
took  no  account  of  the  change  in  the  value  of  money." 

At  the  same  period  a  first-class  printer  at  Cincinnati  made 
$4  a  night,  but  he  missed  four  nights  a  week  on  an  aver- 
age and  in  addition  had  to  throw  in  his  case  during  the  day 
— a  requirement  that  was  almost  universal  at  that  time.  But 
this  testimony  must  have  referred  to  an  exceptionally  good 
workman  because  many  compositors  at  Cincinnati  did  not 
make  more  than  $2  a  day  at  that  time.  The  low  rate  which 
was  said  to  obtain  at  Boston  must  have  been  brought  about 
by  unusual  competition,  as  the  typographical  union  had 
fixed  the  wages  of  union  workmen  at  $15  a  week.  The 
lowest  wages  were  paid  to  varnishers  who  made  from  $7 
to  $9  a  week  in  1883." 

At  present 70  the  wages  of  printers  in  Massachusetts  vary 
greatly  according  as  the  work  is  ordinary  or  difficult,  on 
books  or  on  newspapers,  during  the  day  or  the  night:  the 


troduction  of  the  Mergenthaler  linotype?"  He  answered:  "Not 
so  many  to-day  [May  9,  1899],  but  with  a  continuation  of  present 
conditions  one  year  from  now  there  will  be  as  many."     [Tr.] 

'*  In  Cincinnati  the  rate  was  then  37  cents  for  day-work  and  40 
cents  for  night-work.  Another  workman  stated  that  in  Cambridge, 
where  there  are  two  of  the  largest  book-printing  establishments  in 
America,  the  compositors  had  made  only  from  $7  to  $9  a  week 
(which  seems  very  low)  until  May.  1883.  when  they  were  given  an 
increase  of  $1.50  per  week.     Labor  and  Capital,  i,  567,  658. 

75 Labor  and  Capital,  i,  407;  iii,  582. 

'*  The  following  quotations  of  average  daily  wages  of  composi- 
tors in  Boston,  are  taken  from  the  Labor  Bulletin  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts,  January,  1899,  p.  2: 

1870 $2.26  1890 $3.65         1S96 $2.64 

1880 2.57  1895 2.61  1898 2.63     [Tr.l 


Wages  of  Men  317 

scale  extends  from  $8  to  $25  a  week.  Some  workmen 
receive  39  cents  per  thousand  ems;  women  make  about  27 
cents  per  thousand.  At  Chicago  the  rates  for  union  work- 
men were  as  follows  in  1896:  hand-work,  45  cents  a  thous- 
and on  morning  papers,  40  cents  on  evening  papers;  on  the 
machine,  15  cents  on  morning  papers,  13  cents  on  evening 
and  Sunday  papers  or  on  books.  The  rate  on  the  machine 
by  the  hour  was  55  cents  for  morning  papers  and  50  cents 
for  evening  papers." 

The  range  of  wages. — One  would  be  at  a  loss  to  give  com- 
plete statistical  data  of  wages  in  a  country  so  vast  and  in 
which  the  occupations  are  so  diverse,  as  the  United  States. 
It  would  be  equally  impossible  to  calculate  any  accurate 
general  average,  not  only  because  wages  are  different  in 
different  occupations,  but  because  in  any  given  occupation 
the  rate  of  pay  varies  with  the  rank  and  role  of  the  workmen. 
The  equality  of  wages  is  a  chimera  belied  by  facts  and, 
as  a  doctrine,  condemned  by  equity  and  common  sense. 
Rates  vary  in  the  same  factory  as  they  vary  from  trade  to 
trade,  in  accordance  with  age,  sex,  skill,  and  employment. 
We  have  already  seen  several  examples  of  this  diversity. 
"  Proceeding  on  the  principle  that  average  rates  are  too  in- 
definite to  be  useful,  Mr.  Wadlin,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics  of  Labor  of  Massachusetts,  made  a  special  investi- 
gation in  1889  of  the  number  of  workmen  in  the  different 
classes  of  each  trade.  Even  the  workmen  of  the  building 
trades  are  far  from  securing  a  uniform  rate  of  wages,  al- 
though their  agreements  with  employers  usually  call  for  the 
same  rate  in  any  given  class.  Thus,  out  of  18,919  workmen 
in  this  group,  6j  per  cent  received  from  $12  to  $20  per  week, 
5  per  cent  received  more  than  $20  and  28  per  cent  less  than 
$5  per  week. 

This  investigation  covered  24,820  persons,  more  than  60 

77  The  average  daily  wages  of  compositors  in  Chicago,  as  given 
by  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor  No.  18,  p.  673,  were  $2.88  in 
1870,  $3.11  in  1875.  $329  in  1877,  and  $3.00  from  1879  to  1898  in- 
clusive.    [Tr.] 


318  The  American  Laborer 

per  cent  cf  the  laboring  population  of  Massachusetts.  It 
revealed  the  fact  that  i6y2  per  cent  (9  per  cent  of  the  men, 
and  34 J/2  per  cent  of  the  women)  made  less  than  $5  a  week  ;78 
283/2  per  cent  from  $5  to  $8,  26  per  cent  from  $8  to  $12,  15 
per  cent  from  $12  to  $15,  14  per  cent  more  than  $15.  In 
the  first  rank  came  the  building  industries;  after  these  the 
boot  and  shoe,  edge-tool,  watchmaking,  jewelry,  tobacco, 
and  toy  industries  are  those  in  which  the  largest  propor- 
tions of  workmen  receiving  more  than  $12  a  week  were 
found.™  The  following  classification  was  made  by  Mr. 
Wadlin  in  1891  and  covers  all  the  industries  of  Massachu- 
setts .'  Per  cent,  of  Workmen. 

Wages.  < " »«. 

1891.  1898.  OT 

Under  *5 8.1  15.7 

$5  but  under  $6   4.7  10.4 

6  "              7  8.0  11.8 

7  "               8 8.8  10.9 

8  «              9 8.2  9.0 

9  "             10 13.2  9.8 

10         »            12   14.3  10.7 

12         "             15   16.9  11.2 

15         "            20   13.4  8.0 

20  and  over 4.4  2.5 

100.00  100.00 

As  shown  in  the  above  table  nearly  one-half  of  the  work- 
men received  between  $9  and  $15  a  week.  In  Wisconsin 
two  similar  investigations  covering  nine-tenths  of  the  labor- 
ing population  show  that  one-half  of  the  wage-earners  in 
that  State  were  included  in  the  $6  and  $12  classes:'1 

Per  cent,  of  Workmen. 

Wages.  * , 

1891-1892.  1895-1S96. 

More  than  $4  a  day 2.2  1.8 

Between  $3  and  $4  a  day  ....  6.6  3.4 

Between    3  and     2  a  day 18.5  15.9 

Between     2  and     1.50  a'day  .  28.6  23.0 

Between    1.50  and  $1 20.1  37.5 

Less  than  $1  a  day 15.0  18.4 

Totals 100.0  100.0 

'•  This  class  is  found  principally  in  the  textile  industries,  and  the 
manufacture  of  jute  goods,  cordage,  and  jewelry. 
'*  Twentieth  Annual  Report,  p.  403  et  seq. 

**  From  Annual  Statistics  of  Manufactures,  1898.  p.  183.     [Tr.] 
M  See  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Wisconsin,   1891-1892, 


Wages  of  Men  319 

In  his  interesting  work  entitled  Industrial  Evolution  of  the 
United  States  Carroll  D.  Wright  states  that  35  per  cent  of 
the  59,784  hands  employed  in  a  number  of  representative 
establishments,  earned  from  $1.00  to  $1.60  a  day.  The  av- 
erage rate  was  between  $1  and  $2,  and  he  adds  that  the 
number  earning  more  than  $2  was  greater  than  the  number 
earning  less  than  $i.82 

An  interesting  illustration  of  the  difference  of  wages  in  / 
an  establishment  in  which  the  conditions  of  work  and  thev 
rate  per  piece  were  the  same  for  all,  is  found  in  a  Massa- 
chusetts manufactory  of  cottonades.  Of  the  177  weavers  in 
this  factory  some  tended  four  looms,  others  six,  others  eight, 
and  the  daily  wages  varied  from  60  cents  to  $1.49,  very 
nearly  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  looms  that  the  work- 
men ran.83  In  other  mills  making  slightly  different  grades 
of  goods,  the  operatives  directed  from  two  to  six  looms  and 
the  scale  varied  from  52  cents  to  $1.60  for  men  and  from 
74  cents  to  $1.39  for  women.  In  classifying  the  687  work- 
men in  these  establishments,  90  are  found  at  one  extreme 

p.  101;  1895- 1896,  pp.  370,  371.  The  second  investigation  covered 
76,339  men  and  7696  women.  For  similar  statistics  of  New  Jersey 
see  the  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  and  Industries  of 
New  Jersey,  1885,  pp.  1-37;  1888,  p.  246. 

[The  following  table  shows  that  in  Wisconsin  in  1896-97  just 
about  one-half  of  the  working  population  earned  from  $7  to  $12  a 
week] : 

1896.  1897. 

$20  and  over 2.6  2.5 

15  but  under  #20 5.6  5.5 

12         "                15 10.0  11.4 

10         "                12 9.1  9.5 

9          "                 10 17.8  14.5 

8          "                   9 9.7  10.6 

Y          "                   8 14.7  15.2 

6                              7 9.7  9.0 

5         "                  6 5.3  4.6 

Under  #5    15.5  17.2 

100.0  100.0 

Eighth  Biennial  Report  ....  Wisconsin,  pp.  683-684. 
n  P.  221. 
K  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  vol.  i,  p.  370. 


320  The  American  Laborer 

with  an  average  remuneration  of  $4.26  a  week,  8  at  the  other 
extreme,  making  on  average  $11  a  week;  the  general  aver- 
age was  $6.46.34 

Going  a  little  more  into  detail  we  find  from  the  same  re- 
port that  the  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  back  boys, 
band  boys,  etc.,  made  from  21  cents  to  $1.20  a  day,  a  large 
majority  making  from  40  to  60  cents.  Further  classification 
of  the  employees  in  the  64  establishments  from  which  the 
above  figures  were  secured  show  that  warpers  made  from 
$.21  to  $2.80;  weavers  from  $.21  to  $2.60  with  an  average  of 
$1.00;  weaver's  apprentices  about  50  cents;  washers  from 
$.41  to  $2.00;  spinners,  frame  and  mule,  from  less  than  $.21 
to  $2.60;  carders  from  $.21  to  $3.00.  Of  the  other  craftsmen 
employed  in  textile  factories  carpenters  made  from  $.61  to 
$3.60;  engineers  from  $1.20  to  $5.60;  masons  from  $1.01  to 
$3.60;  day-laborers  from  21  cents  to  $2.8o.80 

A  still  more  extensive  range  of  wages  has  been  shown  to 
exist  in  the  building  industries,  by  an  investigation  made  in 
Wisconsin  in  1891.  Out  of  2813  craftsmen,  4  made  from  60 
to  70  cents  an  hour;  174  from  40  to  60  cents;  1120  from  25 
to  37  cents;  572  from  20  to  24  cents;  1013  from  i2J/2  to  19 
cents;  30  from  5  to  n}4  cents.  The  mean  rate  was  22 
cents;  the  extremes,  as  we  have  seen,  70  and  5  cents.  Fore- 
men were  counted  as  workmen  in  this  investigation.88 

84  Earnings  per  week.  Weavers.                         A"W* 

Under  $5 90  $4.26 

*.">  and  under  $6 148  5.54 

6  «                7 223  6.44 

7  "                 S 129  7.42 

8  «                 9 69  8.33 

9  «               10 20  9.24 

10  "  11 6  10.34 

11  "  12 1  11.75 

13  and  over 1  13.12 

Totals 687  6.46 

Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  vol.  i,  p.  372. 
^  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  vol.  i,  p.  822 
et  seq. 
**  See  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  ....  Wisconsin.  1891-1892. 


Wages  of  Men  321 

The  report  of  the  commissioner  of  labor  from  which  we 
have  been  quoting  furnishes  a  classification  of  wage-earners 
in  the  cotton  and  woolen,  glass,  and  mining  industries  simi- 
lar to  that  which  has  been  quoted  in  the  section  on  mining 
and  metallurgical  industries.  The  latter  scale  is  repeated 
here  for  purposes  of  comparison:87 


Wages. 

Mixed  iroD 
and  steel. 

Glass. 

Bituminous 
coal. 

Coke. 

Cotton 
and  wool. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

10.79 

34.12 

12.74 

20.81 

63.92 

From  $1.01  to  $'2.00. 

.  .    71.32 

28.95 

71.98 

67.65 

33.44 

3.01  to    3.00. 

.  .    10.02 

9.74 

15. 16 

11.17 

2.07 

"       3.01  to    4.00. 

.  .      5.08 

10.64 

o.os 

0.37 

0.44 

"       4.01  to    5.00. 

.  .      1.44 

9.06 

0.04 

0.12 

»       5.01  to    6.00. 

.  .      0.32 

4.36 

0.01 

More  than  $6.00 

1.03 

3.13 

100.00         100.00         100.00         100.00         100.00 

The  glass  and  steel  industries,  although  they  employ  a 
large  number  of  workmen,  pay  very  high  wages,  15  per 
cent  of  the  employees  in  the  latter  industry  earning  from  $2 
to  $4  a  day;  36  per  cent  in  the  glass  manufacture  making 
more  than  $2  a  day.  Miners  and  coke-makers  occupy  a 
middle  rank;  the  employees  of  the  cotton  and  woolen  mills 
form  the  lowest  class.  In  each  industry  the  employees  are 
spread  out  in  a  long  series  and  some  workmen  are  found 
who  earn  five  or  six  times  as  much  as  others.  But  it  is  the 
great  majority  which  determine  the  mean  and  this  majority 
varies;  in  the  metallurgical  group  there  is  only  one  work- 
man in  ten  who  does  not  make  more  than  $1 ;  six  out  of 
every  ten  in  the  textile  industries  make  $1  or  less. 

Resume. — The  preceding  enumeration  of  wages  has  been 
lengthy  and  might  have  been  indefinitely  prolonged  since 
almost  all  of  the  three  hundred  odd  reports  which  the  labor 
commissioners  have  published  contain  statistics  of  wages. 
It  seemed  necessary  to  me,  however  dry  it  may  prove,  to 
present  these  quotations  to  the  reader.     My  object  has  not 


87  Seventh  Annual  Report,  vol.  i,  p.  841. 


322  The  American  Laborer 

been  to  calculate  a  mean;  an  average  is  impossible,  and  if 
secured,  would  be  meaningless.  What  I  have  aimed  to  do 
is  to  furnish  abundant  and  irrefutable  proof  that  amid  the 
diversity  arising  from  differences  of  place,  occupation,  and 
individual  capacity,  wages  are  in  general  high  in  the  United 
States.  There  are  exceptions,  of  course,  rates  cannot  be 
high  in  all  classes  because  immigration  continually  supplies 
a  mass  of  low-grade  labor,  and  there  is  a  multitude  of  day- 
laborers  who  have  no  special  skill — nothing  but  their  hands 
to  depend  upon — and  consequently  are  subjected  to  an  un- 
limited competition.  Nor  have  wages  advanced  in  every' 
calling:  in  many  industries  skilled  workmen  have  ceased  to 
be  as  scarce  as  formerly;  in  others  the  development  of  ma- 
chinery has  made  the  skilled  workman  less  indispensable 
than  before. 

I  have  already  cited  some  of  these  exceptions  and  will 
speak  at  greater  length  of  others  in  the  two  following  chap- 
ters, but  in  the  case  of  men's  wages  at  least,  these  deviations 
are  completely  obliterated  by  the  general  trend.  The  wage- 
scale  starts  with  small  boys  who  make  from  33  to  66  cents, 
passes  to  farm-laborers  who  receive  from  33  cents  to  $1.33, 
to  spinners  and  weavers  who  earn  on  an  average  from  $1 
to  $2,  to  laborers  who  make  from  $1.25  to  $2.00,  to  crafts- 
men who  receive  from  $1.50  to  $3.00,  to  machinists  who  re- 
ceive from  $2  to  $3,  to  members  of  the  building  trades  who 
make  from  $2.50  to  $4.00,  and  finally  to  the  highest-grade 
workmen  of  the  glass,  iron  and  steel  industries  who  make 
from  $5  to  $10  a  day.  To  these  it  might  be  necessary  to 
add  a  certain  class  of  artificers  who,  in  reality,  are  artists 
rather  than  artizans.  Between  these  extremes  which  can 
be  indicated  only  in  a  very  rough  way,  the  wage-earners  of 
all  other  occupations  range  themselves. 

If  it  be  asked  what  is  the  general  mean,  it  must  be  an- 
swered first  of  all  that  no  such  result  is  obtainable;  the  ele- 
ments are  too  incomplete  and  heterogeneous  to  afford  the 
possibility  of  a  precise  calculation.  If  some  answer  be  in- 
sisted upon,  one  might  hazard  the  guess  that  during  the 


Wages  of  Men  323 

period  1890- 1893  the  average  rate  of  wages  of  men  em- 
ployed in  industry  in  the  United  States  was  somewhere  be- 
tween $1.75  and  $2.00  a  day.88  This  seems  to  be  the  most 
reasonable  estimate.  By  way  of  verification  I  have  gone 
through  the  four  volumes  of  the  Aldrich  report  and  calcu- 
lated that  the  average  rate  in  207  distinct  occupations  was 
$2.07  in  July  1891.*"  The  result  is  entirely  confirmatory  of 
the  estimate  just  given.  Another  verification  is  found  in  the 
paper  of  Mr.  Ethelbert  Stewart  on  the  hourly  rate  of  wages 
in  four  large  cities  in  1895,  published  in  the  Bulletin  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  for  November,  1896.  This  was  a  year 
of  low  wages,  and  yet  the  calculations  show  that  the  mean 
rate  for  nine  hours'  work  was  $1.93  in  Baltimore,  $2.61  in 
Boston,  $2.53  in  New  York,  and  $2.43  in  Philadelphia.*" 


98  The  average  daily  wage  in  25  occupations  for  the  largest  twelve 
cities  of  the  United  States  in  1898  was,  as  reported  in  Bulletin  of  the 
Department  of  Labor  No.  18,  $2.43.  An  investigation  of  average 
wages  was  also  made  in  Missouri  in  1898,  covering  39,320  males  and 
11,457  females,  exclusive  of  clerical  help.  "The  average  daily 
wages  paid  to  skilled  males,  for  all  of  the  industries,  was  $2.25;  un- 
skilled males,  $1.23;  skilled  females,  $1.32;  unskilled  females,  $.78, 
being  a  slight  increase  over  the  previous  year."  Tzventy-First  An- 
nual Report  ....  Missouri,  p.  12.     [Tr.] 

83  The  result  is  based  upon  the  returns  in  Table  XII  covering  88 
establishments,  and  Table  XIII  of  the  Aldrich  report.  In  comput- 
ing the  mean  I  arranged  all  the  rates  paid  in  July,  1891,  in  groups, 
the  number  of  recipients  in  each  case  being  ten  or  more.  A  simple 
average  was  then  taken  by  dividing  the  sum  of  the  average  rates 
of  these  groups  by  the  number  of  groups.  A  similar  estimate  was 
made  by  the  Connecticut  Bureau  of  Labor  in  1896.  The  average 
rate  of  83,051  workmen,  calculating  on  the  basis  of  a  ten-hour  day, 
was  $1.66.  But  this  calculation  included  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren. In  the  trades  pursued  only  by  men  the  rate  was  much  higher 
as  a  rule;  in  the  manufacture  of  fire-arms,  $2.15;  machinery,  $2.04; 
silverware,  $2.15;  lumber,  $1.76;  iron  $1.92.  In  the  manufacture  of 
hardware,  however,  the  rate  descended  to  $1.64.  The  highest  rates 
paid  to  men  were  between  $5  and  $6;  and  the  lowest,  50  cents. 
Twelfth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut. 

80  The  statistics  of  each  city  rest  upon  returns  from  at  least  75 
occupations.  The  average  rate  per  hour  was  21  Yz  cents  in  Balti- 
more, 29  cents  in  Boston,  28  cents  in  New  York,  26  cents  in  Phila- 
delphia. The  returns  are  from  private  industries;  in  the  public 
service  the  rates  are  in  general  higher. 


324  The  American  Laborer 

Brief  comparison  zvith  other  countries. — The  scale  of  wages 
we  have  just  quoted  is  superior  to  that  of  any  other  country. 
Although  the  fact  may  be  self-evident  so  far  as  France  is 
concerned  it  will  be  useful  to  support  it  with  a  few  statistics. 
One  of  the  witnesses  in  the  Senatorial  investigation  of  1883 
was  Mr.  Steinway  the  piano  manufacturer.  As  he  was  born 
in  Germany  and  had  at  that  time  a  factory  in  Hamburg,  he 
was  fully  competent  to  speak  about  the  condition  of  work- 
ingmen  in  the  two  continents.  Mr.  Steinway  asserted  that 
the  workmen  in  his  line  of  industry  made  three  times  as 
much  in  New  York  as  in  Europe.  This  proportion  is  cer- 
tainly not  applicable  to  all  occupations,  and  the  workmen 
mentioned,  being  younger  at  the  time  of  their  emigration, 
had  never  received  full  wages  in  Europe.  But  the  superi- 
ority of  American  wages  is  incontestable,  whatever  its  de- 
gree may  be. 

With  respect  to  England  the  superiority  has  been  denied. 
In  the  investigation  of  1883  a  tailor  who  had  been  born  in 
England  and  was  then  a  resident  of  New  York  testified  that 
from  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  labor  question  in  Europe 
and  America  he  was  convinced  that  the  condition  of  work- 
ingmen  was  substantially  the  same  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  that  the  masons,  carpenters  and  joiners  of  England 
would  compare  favorably  with  those  of  America,  and  that 
English  miners  were  in  a  far  better  moral  condition  than 
American  miners.  This  witness  may  be  suspected  of  a  little 
exaggeration  as  he  had  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  labor 
movement  in  Europe,81  but  another  asserted  that  the  work- 
men in  the  Clyde  shipyards  received  better  wages  than  those 
in  the  Delaware  yards.92  A  third,  however,  an  engraver  of 
rollers,  who  had  worked  in  two  countries,  said  in  response 
to  the  question:'3  "  which  on  the  whole  is  the  most  prosper- 
ous and  happy  and  contented  class  of  people,  those  there 
[in  England]  or  those  here?" — "  I  think  they  are  decidedly 
better  off  here  than  they  are  there." 

"  Labor  and  Capital,  i.  841.  K  Ibid.,  i.  839.         "Ibid.,  iii.  148. 


Wages  of  Men  325 

It  is  not  as  easy  as  might  be  supposed  to  establish  a  com- 
parison from  the  testimony  of  interested  witnesses.  The 
Commissioner  of  Labor  of  Michigan  furnishes  another  proof 
of  this  statement.  He  made  inquiry  of  the  miners  and 
quarrymen  of  Michigan  who  had  worked  in  England, 
about  400  in  number,  and  all  of  these  without  exception  an- 
swered that  they  had  received  more  in  America  than  in 
England,  the  average  monthly  rates  having  been  $16.61  and 
$19.07  in  England  and  $48.76  and  $56.66  in  the  United 
States.  The  difference  is  so  great  that  it  should  not  have 
been  accepted  by  the  statistician  as  a  correct  expression  of 
the  facts  in  the  case.  If  the  answers  were  sincere  their  sig- 
nificance at  most  does  not  extend  beyond  the  trades  in  ques- 
tion, as  not  all  the  workmen  I  questioned  were  unanimous 
upon  this  point. 

Dr.  Gould  in  a  paper  read  in  Paris  before  the  Societe 
d'Economic  Sociale  summed  up  one  of  the  reports  of  the  com- 
missioner of  labor,  in  the  composition  of  which  he  himself 
had  taken  a  prominent  part,  and  showed  that  the  average 
annual  earnings  of  bituminous  coal  miners  were  2133  francs 
in  the  United  States  (508  quotations),  1833  francs  in  Great 
Britain  (508  quotations) ;  that  in  the  iron  industry  of  Ameri- 
ca the  average  workman  made  3492  francs  a  year  (623  quo- 
tations) while  in  Great  Britain  he  made  only  2195  francs 
(114  quotations);  in  the  steel  industry,  2892  francs  in 
America  (183  quotations),  2436  francs  in  Great  Britain  (166 
quotations).  From  these  averages  he  concluded  that  the 
typical  European  workman's  family  (averaging  returns 
from  England,  Germany,  France  and  Belgium)  had  an  an- 
nual income  of  about  2355  francs,  1841  of  which  were 
brought  in  by  the  head  of  the  family;  while  in  America  the 
average  income  was  31 11  francs,  of  which  2672  francs  were 
earned  by  the  head.  These  calculations  applied  only  to  the 
mining  and  metallurgical  industries.  A  further  investiga- 
tion of  three  cotton  mills  led  Mr.  Gould  to  conclude  that 
cotton-spinners  made  $1.02  a  day  in  the  Northern  States, 


England. 

Germany, 

16  to  18  cts. 

8i^  cts. 

16 

7X 

14  to  17 

6 

4.3  to  5.2 

326  The  American  Laborer 

79  cents  in  the  South,  and  66  cents  in  Great  Britain."  Such 
figures  are  only  approximations,  but  they  indicate  the  su- 
periority of  money  wages  in  America.95 

Mr.  Schoenhof  in  the  comparisons  of  wages  in  America, 
England,  and  Germany,  which  he  made,  places  America  in 
the  first  and  Germany  in  the  third  rank,  in  all  the  trades 
which  he  investigated.  The  following  table,  for  instance, 
he  believes  substantially  accurate  for  the  kinds  of  wages  in- 
cluded : " 

Wages  per  Hour. 

United  States. 

Masons 45  cts.  (New  York) 

Carpenters 30  to  35 

Spinners   (male)  . .     15  to  16  (Lowell) 
Spinners  (female)  .        8.4 

In  the  report  presented  by  the  committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  appointed  to  investigate  the  Homestead 
strike  it  seems  to  be  demonstrated  almost  beyond  doubt  that 
at  that  time  the  wages  paid  in  the  iron  works  of  America 
were  twice,  and  in  some  departments  four  times,  as  much  as 

M  See  La  Reforme  Sociale,  1893.  The  number  of  quotations  of 
wages  in  Germany  and  Belgium  is  not  large  enough  to  justify  the 
reproduction  of  their  averages  here. 

M  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  374. 

[In  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor  No.  18,  the  results  of  an  in- 
vestigation of  wages  in  Great  Britain,  Paris,  Liege  (Belgium),  and 
the  United  States  are  published.  While  the  quotations  are  such 
that  no  comparison  between  average  wages  in  the  several  countries 
may  be  drawn,  the  general  averages  do  constitute,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  statistician,  trustworthy  indices  of  the  courses  of  wages  since 
1870  in  the  respective  countries.  In  Great  Britain,  and  Paris 
wages  rose  steadily  from  1870  to  1896.  being  14.6  per  cent  higher 
in  Great  Britain,  and  25.5  per  cent  higher  in  Paris,  in  1896  than 
in  1870.  In  Liege  and  the  United  States  the  movement  was  very 
irregular,  but  in  Liege  the  maximum  increase  occurred  in  the  year 
1896  (11.3)  per  cent,  while  in  the  United  States  wages  were  lower 
in  1896  than  in  any  previous  year  after  1882.  The  increase  in  the 
United  States  was  very  regular  until  1896  (16. 1  per  cent),  when  it 
began  to  decline,  falling  to  10.3  per  cent  in  1898.] 

"  The  Economy  of  High  Wages,  p.  10.  Coal  miners  (ibid.,  p.  200). 
made  §337  a  year  in  Pennsylvania,  $253  in  Staffordshire,  $225  in 
Saarbruck. 


Wages  of  Men  327 

in  those  of  western  and  central  Europe.  The  report  con- 
tains a  comparative  table  of  wages  in  the  steel  works  of 
Europe  and  America.  At  the  time  when  the  rollers  and 
second  shearmen  at  Homestead  refused  to  submit  to  reduc- 
tions from  $7.60  to  §6.33  and  from  $4.61  to  $3.71  respect- 
ively, rollers  were  paid  $2.96  at  Newcastle,  $1.29  at  Brus- 
sels, and  $1.08  at  Antwerp;  shearmen  received  $1.26  at 
Newcastle.  Laborers  received  92  cents  at  Hull,  73  cents  at 
Leeds,  58  cents  at  Brussels,  32  cents  at  Witkowitz  (Austria- 
Hungary),  while  at  Homestead  the  better  class  received 
from  $1.50  to  $2.oo.87 

The  official  statistics  of  England  do  not  cover  as  wide  a 
variety  of  topics  as  those  of  the  United  States,  but  in  certain 
respects  their  wage  statistics  are  more  precise  than  the 
American.  In  an  investigation  conducted  by  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  1886,  8108  replies  were  received  giving  statistics 
of  824,000  workmen.  The  following  results  were  estab- 
lished: (1)  The  average  annual  earnings  per  laborer  were 
47  pounds  sterling.  Only  66,400 — about  8.6  per  cent — 
earned  more  than  70  pounds  a  year  (gas,  steel,  ship- 
building industries);  while  272,600 — 33.08  per  cent — earned 
between  50  and  60  pounds  (public  works,  printing,  leather, 
tin,  iron  and  steel,  etc.).  In  the  lowest  rank  about  126,000 
persons  were  recorded  whose  yearly  earnings  averaged  less 
than  30  pounds.  The  most  of  these  were  employed  in  the 
cotton,  silk,  woolen,  and  needle-work  industries. 

(2)  The  weekly  average  was  24s.  6d.  for  men,  from  which 
it  follows  that  the  average  workman  lost  a  good  deal  of  time, 
since  the  annual  rate  is  not  fifty-two  times  the  weekly  rate. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  list,  in  the  mines  (metals),  the  aver- 
age was  16s.  6d.;  at  the  top  of  the  scale,  in  the  tin  manu- 
facture, it  was  33s.  5d. :  in  the  cotton  industry,  which  occu- 
pied a  median  position  with  an  average  of  25s.  3d.,  more 
than  half  of  the  workmen  made  between  15  and  20  shillings. 

Mr.  Giffen  employed  these  returns  to  estimate  the  average 

97  House  Report  2447,  52  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  p.  35. 


328  The  American  Laborer 

scale  of  wages  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  This  estimate 
includes  agricultural  wages  which  are  lower  than  those  paid 
in  the  manufacturing  industries: 

Per  cent,  of  Average 

workmen.  weekly  earnings. 

2.7 less  than  15s. 

20.9 from  15  to  20 

35.4 "     20  to  25 

23.6 "     25  to  30 

11.2 "     30  to  35 

6.2 more  than  35 

"  The  general  impression  left  by  the  information  before 
us  is  that  the  level  of  wage-rates  has  risen  considerably  dur- 
ing the  last  fifty  years  both  in  respect  of  their  nominal  value 
and  (with  the  exception  of  house  rent  in  large  towns)  their 
power  of  purchasing  commodities.  At  the  same  time  it  ap- 
pears that  the  daily  hours  of  labour  have  during  the  same 
period  been  in  most  cases  shortened,  and  the  sanitary  con- 
ditions of  work  improved."-88 

In  the  third  volume  of  his  interesting  work  Les  Classes 
Ottz'riars  en  Europe  M.  Rene  Lavollee  has  devoted  a  chapter 
to  English  wages,  in  which  he  finds  some  fault  with  the  sta- 
tistics of  the  Royal  Commission  and  points  out  how  difficult 
it  is  to  secure  exact  results  in  this  question.  Mr.  Lavollee 
comes  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  nearly  as  can  be  ascertain- 
ed, the  weekly  average  was  50  francs  in  the  coal  mines,  from 
40  to  42  francs  in  the  blast-furnaces,  from  47  to  38  francs 
in  the  filatures,  from  37  to  21  francs  in  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  goods,  and  from  16  to  18  francs  in  the  boot  and  shoe 
industry.  Among  tailors,  he  remarks,  the  rates  vary  from 
19  francs  in  Scotland  to  56  in  London.  He  recognizes  that 
there  had  been  beneath  the  innumerable  fluctuations  of  the 
surface  a  steady  tide  of  progress  in  the  preceding  thirty 
years,  but  points  out  that  in  the  immediately  preceding 
year  or  two  a  recession  had  taken  place,  not  only  in  agricul- 

w  Fifth   Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Labor,   pp.   9-10.     See 
also.  Report  on  the  Work  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  1893-1894.  p.  74  et  seq. 


Wages  of  Men  329 

ture,  but  in  certain  other  industries  like  the  cotton  manufac- 
ture, whose  outlets  had  been  contracted. 

It  would  not  be  far  from  correct,  in  all  probability,  to 
place  the  average  rate  in  the  manufacturing  industries  at  5 
shillings  a  day.  This  would  bring  English  wages  about  35 
per  cent  beneath  American.  The  difference  between  wages 
in  France  and  America  is  more  considerable.  According  to 
the  French  labor  delegation,  for  instance,  bronze  molders 
made  from  7  to  8  francs  in  Paris;  bronze-platers  from  6  to  9 
francs;  turners  from  7  to  8^  francs.  In  New  York  the 
highest  class  in  this  industry  received  from  $3  to  $4,  others 
from  $1.75  to  $2.33. 

At  one  point  at  least  an  exact,  if  not  an  extensive,  com- 
parison of  French  and  American  wages  can  be  made.  At 
Havre  the  captain  of  the  Tourainc  paid  laborers  5  francs  a 
day  or  night.  In  New  York  the  same  work  cost  $2  a 
day  and  $4  a  night.  It  is  true  that  these  laborers  claimed 
they  had  work  only  a  part  of  the  week,  and  it  is  possible 
that  the  work  may  have  been  more  constant  at  Havre.  But 
the  French  labor  delegates  to  Chicago,  those  who  went  in 
the  name  of  the  Paris  labor-unions  as  well  as  those  sent  out 
by  the  commission  in  charge  of  the  French  exhibit,  all 
recognized  the  superiority  of  American  wages.  "  In  every 
branch  of  the  trade  the  men  make  more  than  they  do  in 
France,"  writes  the  hatter.89 

In  France,  a  report  of  the  Office  du  Travail  covering  the 
year  1891  contains  the  latest  official  information  which  we 
possess  upon  wages  in  manufactures.  In  the  department  of 
the  Seine  the  wages  of  men  in  private  industries  was  on  an 
average  6  fr.  15  ($1.19)  for  a  mean  working  day  of  ten  hours 
and  one-half.  The  average  reached  10  fr.  20  ($1.97)  for  dec- 
orators and  9  fr.  30  ($.179)  in  the  manufacture  of  tapestry; 
it  exceeded  7  fr.  ($1.35)  in  the  looking-glass,  marble-cutting, 
type-founding,  printing,  silverware  and  jewelry,  furriery,  fur- 

"*  Several  however  declare  that  the  American  laborer  loses  more 
time  than  the  French.     See  Rapports  de  la  delegation  ouvriere,  p.  330. 


330  The  American  Laborer 

niture,  turning,  tinware  industries,  etc.  On  the  other  hand 
the  rate  was  less  than  5  fr.  ($.96)  in  the  starch-making,  glue- 
making,  book-binding,  rope-making,  dyeing,  industries.  As 
in  America  the  range  of  wages  is  very  wide:  1.3  per  cent  re- 
ceived 2  fr.  50  or  less  (48  cents),  1.2  per  cent  received  10  fr. 
($1.93)  or  more,  16  per  cent  received  5  fr.  (96  cents),  and  10 
or  11  per  cent  were  grouped  at  each  of  the  rates,  5  fr.  80, 
6  fr.,  6  fr.  50,  7  fr.,  and  7  fr.  50.  The  great  majority  in  the 
textile  industries  were  found  between  3  fr.  25  and  5  fr.  25 
($.62  and  $1.01),  and  between  5  fr.  75  and  7  fr.  25  ($1.11  and 
$1.40)  in  the  manufacture  of  gold  and  silverware.100 

In  the  other  departments  wages  were  lower,  the  general 
average  being  only  3  fr.  90  (75  cents).  Only  three  indus- 
tries, the  manufacture  of  glass,  explosives,  and  clothing,  ex- 
ceeded 5  fr.  (96  cents),  while  sixty-six  industries  paid  be- 
tween 3  and  4  fr.  (58  and  yy  cents),  and  five  industries,  less 
than  3  fr.  (58  cents).  Cabinet-makers  averaged  4  fr.  20  (81 
cents);  wood-workers  made  from  3  fr.  to  4  fr.  50  (58  to  89 
cents);101  iron-workers  about  4  fr.  10  (79  cents).  In  gen- 
eral the  rates  varied  between  3  fr.  80  and  4  fr.  60  (73  and  89 
cents)  in  the  metallurgical  industries,1"2  and  between  3  fr.  90 
and  5  fr.  50  ($.75  and  $1.06)  in  the  glass  manufacture.102 

100  For  the  period  preceding  1891  see  La  Population  Frangaise.  by 
E.  Levasseur,  vol.  iii,  p.  85  ct  seq. 

101  The  average  rate  for  joiners,  who  made  the  highest  wages, 
was  4  fr.  70  (91  cents),  although  many  worked  more  than  ten 
hours.  The  rate  varied  from  6  fr.  45  ($1.24),  the  average  for  Seine- 
et-Marne,  to  2  fr.  20  (42  cents)  in  Ille-et-Vilaine,  where  the  pay 
was  least. 

102  The  average  for  draughtsmen  was  5  fr.  20  ($1.00)  for  ten  hours; 
for  blacksmiths.  5  fr.  .05  (97  cents).  In  iron  foundries  the  wages 
varied  from  5  fr.  40  ($1.04)  to  2  fr.  10  (40  cents);  the  laborers  in 
this  branch  made  from  3  fr.  10  to  3  fr.  90  (60  to  75  cents).  The 
car-works  at  Lyons  (Syndicat  des  Industries  dc  la  Voiture)  pay  7  fr. 
($1.35)  to  blacksmiths  and  the  Association  Metallurgique  du  Rhone.  7 
fr.  50  ($1.45)  to  loaders  and  weighmen.  This  was  the  highest  aver- 
age outside  of  Paris.  The  labor-unions  returned  no  rates  higher 
than  6  fr.  ($1.16)  except  for  rollers  at  Sedan  (6  fr.  50,  $1.25)  and 
molders  at  Nouzon  (7  to  8  fr.,  $1.35  to  $1.54). 

03  In  the  glass  industry  the  average  of  the  melters  rose  as  high 
as  6  fr.  50  ($1.25):  laborers  received  2  fr.  75  (53  cents). 


Wages  of  Men  331 

In  the  same  industry  the  rates  were  often  twice  as  much 
in  one  Department  as  in  another.  In  the  manufacture  of 
paper,  for  instance,  the  mean  rate  varied  from  4  fr.  15  in  the 
Department  of  Orne  to  1  fr.  95  in  the  C6tes-du-Nord,  with- 
out taking  into  account  Seine-et-Oise  and  Seine-et-Marne 
where  the  rates,  from  5  fr.  to  5  fr.  25,  were  largely  in- 
fluenced by  the  proximity  of  Paris.  In  the  cotton  mills  the 
rate  was  more  uniform,  but  it  varied  from  5  fr.  in  Aisne  to 
2  fr.  40  in  Mayenne.104  Averaging  the  mean  rates  for  the 
Department  of  the  Seine  with  those  of  the  other  Depart- 
ments, I  would  venture  to  assert  upon  the  authority  of  these 
figures  that  in  America  wages  are  more  than  twice  as  high 
as  in  France.105 

It  will  not  be  without  interest  to  extend  the  comparison 
by  including  a  few  figures  from  countries  other  than  France 
and  England.  According  to  an  investigation  of  the  condi- 
tions of  labor  made  by  the  Minister e  des  Affaires  Etrangeres 
of  France  in  1891  the  average  rate  of  wages  in  Germany  is 
almost  everywhere  lower  than  in  France,  and  it  sensibly  de- 
creases as  we  go  from  western  to  eastern  Germany.  Thus 
the  general  average  for  adult  workmen  was  found  to  be  1.77 
marks  in  Rhenish  Prussia,  1.59  in  Hanover,  1.50  in  Bran- 

1M  See  Office  du  Travail:  Salaires  et  Duree  du  Travail  dans  I'ln- 
dustrie  Frangaise,  vols,  i,  ii,  iii. 

106  The  fourth  volume  of  the  above-mentioned  investigation,  Re- 
sultats  Generau.r,  has  been  published  since  L'Ouvrier  Americain 
was  written.  The  investigation  covered  2957  establishments  and 
674,000  persons.  The  average  length  of  the  effective  working  day 
was  found  to  be  between  10  and  11  hours,  the  average  wages  of 
working  people,  in  private  industries,  without  distinction  of  age  or 
sex,  3  fr.  75  a  day  (72  cents).  For  adult  male  workmen  the  aver- 
age was  4  fr.  20  (81  cents),  for  adult  women  2  fr.  10  (42  cents).  Be- 
tween i840-'45  and  i8c)i-'93  the  nominal  wages  of  men  rose  a 
little  less,  and  those  of  women  a  little  more,  than  100  per  cent. 
An  examination  of  prices  showed  that  while  rents  had  risen  more 
than  100  per  cent  in  the  last  50  years,  the  cost  of  food  and  lodging 
together  had  increased  only  about  25  per  cent.  As  nearly  as  can 
be  expressed  in  round  figures,  wages  have  doubled,  and  the  cost  of 
living  has  increased  one-quarter  in  France  since  1845.  Op  cit., 
pp.  24-28.     [Tr.] 


332  The  American  Laborer 

denburg,  1.17  in  eastern  Prussia,  wbile  in  Silesia  it  was  only 
1.02.  The  cities  naturally  paid  higher  rates.  Berlin  held 
first  rank  with  an  average  of  2  m.  40  (58  cents);  Leipzig 
paid  2  m.  10;  Munich  2  marks  (49  cents). 

In  Spain,  for  a  day  of  10  or  103/2  hours,  skilled  workmen 
in  the  building  trades  make  4  pesetas  (yy  cents)  and  laborers 
from  2  to  2.25  pesetas  (37  to  43  cents)  at  Madrid.  In  this 
city  the  cost  of  living  has  been  increasing  in  the  last  twenty 
years,  in  company  with  the  population  and  the  burden  of 
the  octrois.  At  Seville  laborers  also  receive  from  2  to  2.25 
pesetas,  but  rents  are  lower  than  at  Madrid.  At  Cordova 
the  coal-miners  make  from  2.50  to  6  pesetas;  at  Valentia 
where  wages  have  increased  in  the  last  fifteen  years,  black- 
smiths make  4.50  and  carpenters  3  pesetas.  At  Barcelona 
masons  get  4  pesetas  for  9  hours'  work,  laborers  from  2  to 
2.75;  in  the  woolen  mills  spinners  make  4.40  pesetas  for  11 
hours'  work,  laborers  3,  ordinary  weavers  2.75.  and  power- 
loom  operatives  4.50  pesetas.106 

Russian  wages,  which  vary  greatly  from  place  to  place 
and  from  trade  to  trade,  have  been  vaguely  averaged  at  10 
kopeks  per  hour,  nominally  equivalent  to  about  8  cents  but 
in  reality  worth  only  about  5^2  cents.107  In  the  cotton  in- 
dustry, according  to  M.  Combes  de  Lestrade.  spinners  make 
from  8.50  to  9  rubles  ($4.40  to  $4.70  cents)  per  week  in 
Poland  and  from  4  to  7.50  rubles  at  Moscow;  weavers  from 
4  to  7  in  Poland  and  from  2  to  3.80  at  Moscow  where  wages 
are  much  lower  than  in  Poland.  The  real  average  is  prob- 
ably below  the  level  indicated  by  these  figures,  for  the  author 
in  speaking  about  wages  further  on  states  that  the  annual 
earnings  of  the  average  weaver  are  about  175  rubles,  and  of 
the  average  spinner,  about  158.  These  figures  relate  to  the 
cotton  industry;  wages  are  higher  in  the  woolen  industry, 
and  in  the  metallurgical  industries  higher  still;  wool  weav- 
ers make  214  rubles  and  the  average  in  steel-works  is  about 


108  Les  Salaires  dcs  Ouvricrs  en  Espagne,  by  Andre  Barthe. 
01  These  valuations  are  based  upon  the  gold  value  of  the  paper 
ruble  in  1896.  52  cents  in  American  money.     [Tr.] 


Wages  of  Men  333 

524  rubles  a  year.  The  last  quotation  is  equivalent  to  nearly 
$1  a  day.  The  workmen,  or  at  least  a  majority  of  the  fac- 
tory-hands, live  in  a  peculiar  way,  dwelling  in  large  buildings 
which  belong  to  the  employers  and  grouped  together  in 
communities  whose  standard  of  comfort  is  low.103  Among 
this  people  who  have  no  traditional  antipathy  to  personal 
service,  domestics  (male)  receive  from  20  to  25  kopeks  a 
day;  at  Woronetz  good  servants  receive  4  rubles,  about  $2 
a  month.  However,  a  manufacturer  established  in  New 
England  told  me  recently  on  his  return  from  a  trip  through 
Russia,  that  in  the  factories  in  the  Moscow  district  it  took 
ten  Russians  to  do  the  work  of  five  American  workmen. 
In  Australia,109  as  in  the  United  States,  the  rate  of  wages 

108  See  Combes  de  Lestrade:  La  Russie  Economique  ct  Sociale, 
chapters  on  wages  and  the  cotton  industry. 

An  interesting  account  of  wages  in  Russia  is  found  in  Minister 
Breckenridge's  report  on  money  and  prices  in  Russia,  published  in 
the  series  of  Special  Consular  Reports,  vol.  xiii,  pt.  ii.  Mr.  Breck- 
enridge  quotes  from  the  pay-rolls  of  the  Petroff sky  Oil  Works  Com- 
pany of  St.  Petersburg,  owned  by  the  Boston  firm  W.  Ropes  and 
Company.  The  following  rates  had  not  been  changed  for  17  years: 
4  foremen  each  received  $26  a  month,  1  head  fitter  received  $39  a 
month;  the  average  rate  of  the  other  265  employees  was  about  55 
cents  a  day.  "  All  our  regular  staff,"  wrote  Mr.  Ropes,  "  are  sup- 
plied with  lodging,  fuel,  and  light  without  making  any  deduction 
for  these  from  wages.  This  has  always  been  so  since  the  com- 
mencement of  our  business  in  1879.  The  rate  of  wages  has  also 
remained  unchanged  during  the  seventeen  years.  Wages  have,  of 
course,  always  been  paid  in  paper  currency,  and  no  fluctuation  in 
the  value  of  this  currency  has  made  any  change  in  the  rate  of 
wages,"  pp.  393,  394.     [Tr.] 

109  Note  the  following  quotations  taken  from  the  Australian  Hand- 
book for  1895.  The  rates  are  for  Victoria  in  the  year  1894:  nurses, 
from  £30  to  £35  a  year;  cooks,  from  £40  to  £75  with  board  and  lodg- 
ing; compositors  1  shilling  per  thousand;  machine-compositors, 
from  £2  10s.  to  £3  10s.  per  week;  book-binders,  from  £2  16s.  to  £4 
per  week;  watchmakers  and  jewelers,  from  £2  to  £4  per  week; 
blacksmiths,  from  9s.  to  10s.  a  day;  house-painters,  5s.  to  10s.  a 
day;  ship-carpenters,  £5  to  £8  a  month;  masons  7s.  to  8s.  a  day; 
laborers,  5s.  to  6s.  a  day;  cabinet-makers,  £2  to  £3  10s.  per  week; 
tailors,  £2  to  £3  10s.  per  week,  etc.  In  New  Zealand:  nurses,  from 
10s.  to  15s.  per  week  at  Wellington  and  Canterbury,  from  6s.  to 
12s.  in  other  places;  blacksmiths,  from  7s.  to  12s.  per  day;  ma- 
sons, 8s.  to  14s.;  painters,  6s.  to  9s.;  tailors,  7s.  to  10s. ;  seam- 
stresses,  3s.   to  6s.;  watchmakers,  8s.   to   15s.     [In  the   year  1897 

23 


334  The  American  Laborer 

is  high,  though  not  so  high  in  the  former  as  in  the  latter 
country. 

In  Mexico  where  the  currency  is  silver  the  workmen  took 
their  pay  in  kind  until  a  few  years  ago;  at  present  almost 
all  are  paid  in  money.  In  the  last  twenty  years  there  has 
been  a  slight  increase  in  the  wages  of  skilled  workmen  em- 
ployed in  new  industries,  but  there  has  been  no  apparent 
change  in  the  wages  of  ordinary  laborers  who  make  from  25 
to  30  cents  a  day  and  in  some  places  receive  an  additional 
ration  of  corn  or  beans.  In  the  mines  the  rate  rises  as  high 
as  70  and  80  cents  but  there  workmen  receive  no  food.  The 
same  is  true  of  factory-hands  wrho  make  from  18  to  37  cents 
a  day;  in  some  cases  as  high  as  62  cents.110 

From  the  remotest  boundary  of  the  East  an  Asiatic  na- 
tion which  has  recently  established  exceptionally  favorable 
relations  with  China  is  now  making  itself  felt  in  the  markets 
of  the  world  and  causing  some  uneasiness  to  the  manu- 
facturing nations  of  Europe  and  America  by  reason  of  the 
advantage  it  secures,  in  the  international  struggle  for  trade, 
from  its  low  level  of  wages.  Japan  has  recently  been  made 
the  subject  of  a  report  by  the  Department  of  Labor  at  Wash- 
ington, from  which  the  following  facts  have  been  gleaned. 
In  the  factories  the  average  daily  wage  was  20  cents,  esti- 
mated in  gold:111  carpenters  and  masons  received  on  an 
average  about  30  cents;  compositors  29  cents;  pressmen  26 
cents.  The  highest  wages  are  received  by  stone-cutters  and 
the  tailors  who  make  European  styles  of  clothing,  35  and  49 
cents  respectively:  among  the  least-paid  are  the  weavers, 
who  make  about  15  cents  on  an  average.     At  Yokohama 

in  New  Zealand  nurses  made  from  5s.  to  10s.  per  week  in 
Wellington  and  Canterbury,  from  2^s.  to  10s.  in  other  districts; 
blacksmiths  from  7s.  to  10s.  per  day;  masons  from  8s.  to  12s.; 
painters  from  "s.  to  10s.;  tailors  from  7s.  to  10s. ;  seamstresses  from 
3s.  to  6s.;  and  watchmakers  from  7V2S.  to  12s.  per  day.] 

10  For  wages  in  Mexico  and  other  countries  see  the  Special  Con- 
sular Report:     "  Money  and  Prices  in  Foreign  Countries,"  1896. 

11  The  monetary  unit  of  Japan  is  the  yen  which  contains  a  little 
more  silver  than  our  silver  dollar.  The  yen  in  this  study  is  valued 
at  50  cents. 


Wages  of  Men  335 

some  of  the  wages  are  higher,  but  in  the  factories  they  are 
as  a  rule  lower.  An  important  tea-exporting  house  which 
employs  a  large  personnel  pays  its  most  experienced  work- 
men 21  cents,  children  7  cents,  and  the  average  laborer  12 
cents  a  day:  these  employees  work  from  five  in  the  morning 
to  six  o'clock  at  night,  with  three  intermissions  of  thirty 
minutes  each  for  meals.  The  Japanese  are  poor  and  live 
sparingly:  they  can  save  a  little  on  a  salary  of  ten  cents  a 
day.  In  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  an  increase  in 
wages,  one  estimate  placing  it  at  14  per  cent  between  1889 
and  1894.  But  it  is  due  principally  to  the  depreciation  of 
the  silver  currency,  and  prices,  particularly  of  daily  necessi- 
ties, have  risen  more  than  wages.  In  the  period  noted  rice 
rose  62  per  cent  and  wheat  37  per  cent  in  price.  The  fall  in 
the  value  of  money  has  been  prejudicial  to  wage-earners.1" 

Not  less  sparingly  live  the  Berbers,  the  Arabs,  and  the 
African  blacks.  Their  wages  are  very  low :  in  Tunis  the  col- 
onists pay  native  laborers  from  20  to  30  cents  a  day;  in  Da- 
homey the  government  pays  negro  laborers  1  fr.  a  day. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  draw  numerical  comparisons  from 
these  figures,  nor  to  classify  the  countries  according  to  their 
rates  of  wages:  the  figures  are  too  incomplete,  too  dissimilar, 
to  justify  a  calculation  of  this  kind.  But  they  prove  plainly 
the  fact  I  wish  to  put  in  evidence:  namely,  that  the  sum  of 
money  which  economists  call  the  nominal  wage  is  with 
some  exceptions  greater  in  the  United  States  than  in  any 
country  of  Europe,  and  much  greater  than  in  France  and 
Germany. 

112  In  1897  carpenters  and  masons  received  about  25  cents  a  day 
(49  and  55  yen  respectively),  compositors  18  cents,  pressmen  18 
cents.  The  highest  rates  recorded  were  those  for  tailors  (European 
styles),  bricklayers,  and  stone-cutters,  who  received  29,  28  and  27J/2 
cents  a  day,  respectively  (58,  56  and  55  yen).  The  above  rates  are 
expressed  in  gold.  A  comparison  based  upon  statistics  of  51 
trades  and  occupations  shows  that  wages  in  Japan  increased  uni- 
formly from  1894  to  1897,  the  average  rate  of  increase  being  37.8 
per  cent.  Forty-five  of  the  47  prices  listed  in  the  same  publication 
rose  between  1896  and  1898.  Resume  Statistique  de  L'Empire  Du 
Japon,  1900,  p.  29.     [Tr.] 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WAGES  OF  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN 

J- 

The  employment  of  women. — There  are  many  industries 
such  as  the  building  trades,  glass  manufactures,  the  metal- 
lurgical and  mechanical  industries,  which  are  unsuited  to 
women,  and  in  consequence  give  employment  to  few  or 
none.  In  forty  occupations  which  I  noted  in  the  reports  of 
the  Eleventh  Census,  the  total  male  employees  outnum- 
bered the  total  female  employees  about  52  to  1.  In  the 
quarries,  for  instance,  there  were  practically  no  women 
employed. 

On  the  other  hand  I  found  thirty-five  important  occupa- 
tions in  which  the  female  employees  outnumbered  the  male 
in  the  proportion  of  2.2  to  I.  In  the  first  rank  come  the 
textile  industries  with  190,000  female  employees.1  The 
combined  industries  of  clothing,  shirts,  collars,  cuffs,  and 
millinery  hold  second  rank  with  123,295  female  employees; 
in  the  shirt-manufacture  the  male  employees  form  only 
about  one-fifth  of  the  total  number  and  in  the  manufacture 
of  millinery,  lace  goods,  paper  boxes,  etc.,  the  proportion 
of  men  is  very  much  smaller.  These  statistics  moreover 
are  incomplete,  since  establishments  of  less  than  ten  per- 
sons are  excluded,  and  in  those  occupations  specially  suited 
to  women  a  large  percentage  of  the  establishments  do  not 
come  within  this  limit. 

The  manufacture  of  cards  for  combing  cotton  and  wool 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  industry  in  which  American 

1  Including  carpet-making.  The  male  employees  are  in  the 
majority  in  the  woolen  industry. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  337 

women  found  employment  in  large  numbers;  in  1784,  for 
instance,  one  factory  was  said  to  have  employed  about  1200 
hands,  most  of  whom  were  women.  With  the  invention  of 
the  spinning  machine  and  the  power-loom  women  were 
hnally  drawn  into  the  textile  factories.  An  English  woman 
who  visited  America  in  1840  wrote  that  she  had  found  but 
seven  trades  open  to  women:  teaching,  needle-work,  keep- 
ing boarders,  work  in  the  cotton-mills,  type-setting,  book- 
binding and  domestic  service.  In  reality  other  occupations 
were  open  to  women  at  that  time,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  field  for  women  has  greatly  enlarged  and  that  it  will 
continue  to  enlarge  as  machinery  removes  the  necessity  for 
muscular  strength. 

In  1850  the  census  returns  showed  225,922  female  em- 
ployees fifteen  years  of  age  and  over,  and  731,137  male  em- 
ployees sixteen  years  of  age  and  over;  about  3.3  men  to 
each  woman.  In  i860  the  proportion  was  3.7  to  1 ;  in  1870, 
4.9  to  1 ;  in  1880,  3.8  to  1.  The  census  of  1890  gave  a  total 
of  3,745,123  men,  846,614  women  and  120,885  children  em- 
ployed in  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing  industries  as 
officers,  firm  members,  clerks,  and  operatives  by  day  and 
by  piece,  or  4.4  men  for  each  woman.  From  1850  to  1890 
the  number  of  women  increased  270  per  cent,  and  the  num- 
ber of  men  412  per  cent.  From  these  figures  one  would 
not  conclude  that  the  women  are  supplanting  the  men.2 

2  Figures  taken  from  the  Statistical  Abstract  for  1895,  and  origin- 
ally compiled  by  the  division  of  manufactures  of  the  Eleventh 
Census.  The  census  statistics  given  under  Occupations  are  somewhat 
different:  in  1880,  according  to  the  latter  authority,  there  were 
2,783,459  males  and  630,890  females  engaged  in  manufacturing  and 
mechanical  industries;  in  1890,  4,064,051  males  and  1,027,242  females. 
According  to  this  statement  the  male  operatives  increased  about 
46  per  cent,  and  the  female  operatives  about  63  per  cent,  during 
the  decade.  The  census  of  1890,  Report  on  the  Manufacturing  Indus- 
tries, furnishes  the  following  information  concerning  the  number  of 
persons  engaged  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries: 

Males,  Females, 

16  years  of  age    15  years  of  age    Children 
and  over.  and  over. 

Officers,  firm  members  and  clerks,        418,081  42,028  

Operatives,  skilled  and  unskilled,     2,881,795  505,712  104,522 

Pieceworkers  445,247  297,974  lfi.363 


338  The  American  Laborer 

A  very  careful  but  more  restricted  enumeration  shows 
that  in  a  number  of  textile  mills  in  Lowell  the  male  opera- 
tives numbered  15 12,  and  the  female  operatives,  5051,  in 
1835;  m  l&93>  the  two  classes  numbered  respectively  7691 
and  13,158.  As  the  statistics  show,  the  women  greatly  out- 
number the  men,  but  the  increase  has  been  greater  in  the 
latter  class.  In  1835  the  female  operatives  formed  79  per 
cent  of  the  whole  personnel,  while  in  1893,  they  formed  but 
63  per  cent. 

The  evidence,  however,  is  quite  conflicting,  as  might  be 
gathered  from  the  discussion  of  this  subject  in  the  news- 
papers. In  1885  the  chief  of  the  Massachusetts  labor  bu- 
reau drew  up  a  report  on  the  employment  of  women  in  that 
State.  Out  of  301,000  female  employees,  50  per  cent  were 
engaged  in  household  service,  37  per  cent  in  manufactures, 
and  the  remainder  in  a  variety  of  other  occupations.3  The 
female  employees  formed  30  per  cent  of  the  whole  female 
population  of  the  State  and  33  per  cent  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion engaged  in  gainful  occupations.  Ten  years  before,  in 
1875,  they  represented  only  21  per  cent  of  the  female  popu- 
lation and  26.8  per  cent  of  the  whole  body  of  wage-earners. 
According  to  this  authority,  then,  they  have  increased  not 
only  in  actual  numbers  but  in  proportion  to  the  male  wage- 
earners.     It  is,  however,  necessary  to  remember  that  do- 


3  The  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statis- 
tics of  Labor,  1884,  contains  a  study  on  the  work  of  women  in 
Boston,  which  yields  proportions  somewhat  different.  Out  of 
1032  women  who  responded  to  the  inquiries  of  the  bureau,  83  were 
servants,  123  were  employed  in  commercial  houses,  826  in  factories. 
Of  this  number  594  lived  with  their  families,  271  in  boarding  houses 
or  furnished  rooms,  the  rest  kept  house  or  lived  in  private  families; 
917  were  unmarried,  the  remainder  were  wives  or  widows;  603 
were  born  in  Massachusetts,  149  in  other  parts  of  the  United 
States,  137  in  Canada,  and  146  in  Europe. 

A  recent  investigation  in  Michigan  brought  out  the  facts  that  of 
13,436  workmen,  9108  lived  with  their  families,  919  boarded  in 
private  families,  730  with  their  parents,  1066  had  special  lodgings; 
and  only  a  very  small  percentage,  28,  lived  in  "  boarding  houses." 
Ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  1892,  p.  153. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  339 

mestic  servants  have  been  included  in  this  investigation  and 
that  Massachusetts  is  the  home  of  the  textile  industries  in 
which  the  male  operatives  are  in  a  decided  minority.4 

The  most  of  these  women  were  young:  41  per  cent  were 
between  20  and  29  years  of  age  and  the  number  between 
14  and  39  years  was  78  per  cent  of  the  total  number  investi- 
gated.6 "  The  daughter,"  says  Mr.  Wadlin,  "  wishes  to 
help  her  father  and  mother,  to  keep  her  brothers  and  sisters 
at  school,  to  live  better  and  dress  better  than  she  otherwise 
could,  and  to  lay  by  some  money  for  the  proverbial  rainy 
day,  or  to  supply  her  part  of  the  common  fund  when  she 
decides  to  get  married.6  The  wife  sometimes  enters  in- 
dustry to  support  an  invalid  husband  and,  too  often,  a 
lazy  or  intemperate  one,  or  to  aid  in  the  bringing  up  of  a 
large  family.  The  widow,  thrown  upon  her  own  resources, 
and  not  wishing  to  become  a  burden  upon  others,  works  to 
support  herself.  In  1875,  there  were  73,527  widows  in 
Massachusetts,  or  8.57  per  cent  of  the  entire  female  popula- 
tion. In  1885,  the  number  of  widows  reached  97,158,  or 
9.63  per  cent  of  the  female  population." 7 

Inferiority  of  the  wages  of  women. — Women's  wages  are 


4  In  England  as  well  as  in  America  there  is  a  widespread  opinion 
that  the  number  of  female  employees  has  increased  and  that  they 
are  driving  out  the  men.  A  comparison  of  the  English  censuses 
of  1881  and  1891  hardly  confirms  this  opinion.  Out  of  every  1000 
female  residents  more  than  10  years  old,  there  were  340  wage- 
earners  in  1881  and  344  in  1891.  The  increase  is  wholly  within  the 
ranks  of  unmarried  women  betweeen  the  ages  of  25  and  45  years; 
there  was  a  diminution  among  married  women  and  among  those  of 
advanced  ages.  See  the  Board  of  Trade  Report  by  Miss  Collet  on 
The  Statistics  of  Employment  of  Women  and  Girls,  1894,  p.  72. 

0  The  Boston  investigation  noted  in  the  preceding  footnote 
revealed  the  fact  that  out  of  1032  female  wage-earners,  917  were 
unmarried,  70  married,  45  widows.  The  great  majority  were  be- 
tween 17  and  30  years  of  age  and  almost  all  of  them  had  gone 
to  work  between  the  ages  of  14  and  16  years. 

6  As  a  rule  she  does  not  marry  young;  25.5  years  is  the  average 
age  in  Massachusetts. 

7  "  Women  In  Industry,"  Report  on  the  Statistics  of  Labor,  Massa- 
chusetts, 1889,  p.  587. 


340  The  American  Laborer 

lower  than  men's  in  every  country,  and  though  the  differ- 
ence is  very  marked  in  America  it  is  seemingly  no  greater 
than  in  France  and  England:  it  is  probably  somewhat 
greater  in  Mexico.  Being  less  robust  than  men,  women 
are  debarred  from  many  occupations  which  require  strength 
and  endurance — itself  a  certain  form  of  skill — and  these 
trades  are  just  those  in  which  the  pay  is  highest.  The 
sphere  of  activity  open  to  women  being  thus  restricted, 
competition  between  them  is  more  intense  and  their  labor 
consequently  commands  an  inferior  price.  This  is  a  truth 
of  general  application  though  probably  less  applicable  to 
the  United  States  and  England 8  than  to  France  and  Switz- 
erland. In  the  first  two  countries  married  women  ordi- 
narily make  no  attempt  to  get  work  outside  of  their  own 
homes  and  the  market,  in  consequence,  is  not  so  well 
stocked. 

In  her  report  on  the  Statistics  of  Employment  of  Women 
and  Girls  (p.  71),  Miss  Collet  says:  "The  industrial  posi- 
tion of  women  varies  with  the  degree  of  material  prosperity 
of  the  men  in  the  class  to  which  they  belong.  The  wives 
and  daughters  of  men  of  small  producing  and  earning 
power  have  at  all  times  been  obliged  to  be  breadwinners. 
As  men's  earning  power  increases,  it  becomes  possible  for 
the  family  to  be  supported  by  the  husband's  earnings,  and 
the  greater  comfort  thus  obtained  in  the  home  creates  a 
general  feeling  that  the  wife  at  least  should  abandon  bread- 
winning.  With  increasing  prosperity  and  a  rising  standard 
of  comfort  the  services  of  the  daughters  can  also  be  retained 


8  The  Royal  Commission  on  Labour  advanced  as  explanations  of 
this  inferiority,  the  general  competition  for  needle-work  arising 
from  the  fact  that  practically  all  women  know  how  to  sew;  the 
special  conveniences  of  home-work:  the  unfavorable  reaction  of 
the  demand  for  home-work  upon  the  wages  of  factory  labor;  the 
fact  that  most  married  or  unmarried  women  receive  some  measure 
of  support  from  others — and  this  simply  makes  the  position  of 
those  women  who  are  dependent  upon  themselves,  the  more  pain- 
ful; the  character  and  isolated  condition  of  women  which  does  not 
permit  them  to  form  unions  as  easily  as  the  men.  Fifth  and  Final 
Report:    "  The  Employment  of  Women,''  p.  91. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children 


341 


in  the  home.  In  England  during  the  last  hundred  years 
the  great  increase  in  productive  power  through  the  intro- 
duction of  machinery,  has  largely  increased  the  number  of 
men  able  to  support  their  daughters  while  the  need  for 
the  services  of  the  latter  at  home  has  decreased.  In 
the  middle  class,  therefore,  a  high  standard  of  comfort,  a 
smaller  field  for  domestic  usefulness,  a  diminished  proba- 
bility of  marriage,  apprehension  with  regard  to  the  future, 
have  all  combined  to  encourage  the  entrance  into  the  labour 
market  of  middle-class  girls." 

The  American  workingwoman  usually  lives  with  her 
family  and  whether  she  does  her  work  at  home  or  at  a 
factory  is  apt  to  consider  her  earnings  as  an  extraordinary 
increment  rather  than  a  regular  part  of  the  family  income. 
This  is  another  reason  why  women  are  less  exacting  in  the 
matter  of  wages.  Working  girls,  who  are  more  numerous 
than  married  women  in  the  factories,9  often  keep  all  they 


9  A  general  confirmation  of  this  fact  is  found  in  the  following 
statistics  taken  from  the  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor,  vol.  ii,  p.  1588,  ct  seq. 

FAMILIES. 


Cotton  Industry. 

Woolen  Industry. 

■6 

With 

income 

from 

73 

0 

With 

ncome 

from 

States. 

c! 

<D  co 

•a 
1  a 

00  03 

X 

to 
0 

a 
© 

u 

2 
3 
0 

M  +3 

01  co 

a  fe 

5  c 

to 

•a 

1  c 
to  CS 

w 

9 

a 

0) 
u 

2 
0 

150 

134 

30 

85 

140 

128 

20 

85 

199 

133 

43 

124 

Maine 

164 
164 

164 
163 

34 
5 

51 

82 

111 

110 

26 

16 

Massachusetts  . . 

400 

399 

105 

138 

187 

169 

13 

1  22 

214 

202 

17 

84 

Pennsylvania.  . .  . 

213 

181 

7 

127 

213 

200 

9 

57 

Great  Britain.  . . . 

341 

340 

45 

147 

131 

130 

13 

75 

Germany  

72 

70 

9 

35 

24 

22 

12 

4 

Switzerland 

52 

45 

26 

25 

116 

99 

45 

41 

179 

174 

40 

84 

342  The  American  Laborer 

make,  though  in  the  poorer  families  their  earnings,  no 
doubt,  go  to  support  the  rest  of  the  household.  The  more 
prudent  manage  to  save  something,  but  the  great  majority 
spend  their  wages  on  fine  clothes  and  in  having  a  good 
time. 

A  great  amount  of  statistical  evidence  might  be  quoted 
from  the  reports  of  the  labor  bureaus  in  support  of  the  facts 
noted  in  the  preceding  paragraph  and  in  the  appended  foot- 
note. I  cite  only  the  New  Jersey  Report  for  1888,  p.  448, 
which  shows  that  out  of  292  workingwomen  interrogated, 
only  53  were  married.  In  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bureau,  p.  92,  the  complaint  is  made  that 
girls  accept  inadequate  wages  because  they  live  with  their 
parents  and  have  scarcely  any  necessary  expenses. 

Another  cause  of  the  inferiority  of  women's  wages  is  the 
fact  that  up  to  the  present  time  workingwomen  have  not 
organized  like  the  men,  although  there  is  an  increasing 
number  of  exceptions  to  this  rule.10  The  wages  of  domestic 
servants  are  high,  but  women  of  American  parentage  are 
averse  to  engaging  in  this  work. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  ratio  between  the  wages  of 
men  and  women  is  exactly  equal  to  the  ratio  between  the 
productivity  of  the  labor  of  the  two  sexes.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  the  women  produce  very  nearly  as  much  as  the  men 
in  those  occupations  in  which  they  compete,  although  their 
pay  is  very  much  smaller.  In  piece-work,  however,  they 
are  usually  paid  according  to  the  same  scale  and  if  their 
weekly  earnings  are  less  in  such  employments — weaving 
may  be  cited  as  an  illustration — it  is  because  they  do  less 
work. 

In  certain  occupations  in  which  they  can  be  substituted 

10  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  warmly  encourages  the 
formation  of  workingwomen's  unions  and  has  even  sent  out  female 
missionaries  to  preach  organization.  In  Cincinnati  a  few  years 
ago  there  were  several  flourishing  women's  unions  in  the  boot  and 
shoe  and  the  cigar-making  industries.  See  Fourth  Annual  Report 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  Washington,  p.  17. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  343 

for  men,  women  are  employed  not  only  because  their  wages 
are  lower,  but  because  they  are  more  tractable  and  seldom 
strike.  "  If  they  [women]  are  really  worth  so  much  to 
you,"  was  asked  of  an  employer  who  preferred  female  em- 
ployees, "why  can't  you  give  better  pay?  What  chance 
has  a  girl  to  save  anything,  unless  she  lives  at  home?" 
"  We  give  as  high  pay  as  anybody,"  he  answered,  "  and  we 
don't  give  more  because  for  every  girl  here  there  are  a 
dozen  waiting  to  take  her  place."  u 

Wages  of  zvomen  in  large  cities. — The  Fourth  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the  United  States  is 
devoted  to  an  investigation  of  the  work  of  women  in  twenty- 
two  large  cities.  The  lowest  average  wage,  that  for  At- 
lanta, was  $4  a  week,  and  the  highest,  that  for  San  Fran- 
cisco, $6.91  the  mean  in  New  York  was  $5.85;  the  general 
average  of  the  twenty-two  cities,  $5.24.  These  figures  may 
appear  too  low,  but  an  explanation  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
they  do  not  represent  the  weekly  rates  paid  by  employers, 
but  one  fifty-second  part  of  the  annual  earnings,  which 
on  account  of  lost  time  is  not  equal  to  the  weekly  wages. 
To  quote  the  actual  figures,  373  made  less  than  $100  a 
year,  and  the  average  number  of  days  lost  by  members  of 
this  group  was  86.5.  More  than  one-third  of  the  women 
reporting  (5024  out  of  13,822)  earned  from  $200  to  $300, 
the  average  number  of  days  lost  being  about  35.  The  398 
who  made  from  $450  to  $500  lost  18.8  days  on  an  average, 
while  those  who  earned  more  than  $500  lost  only  14.8  days. 
It  thus  seems  that  the  amount  of  time  lost  is  in  inverse 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  wages.  The  highest  rates 
were  paid  in  New  York,  one-fifth  of  those  reporting  from 
that  city  earned  more  than  $400  a  year,  while  in  Boston 
only  one-seventh  earned  more  than  $400,  and  in  Philadel- 
phia only  one-tenth.  The  above  statistics  apply  to  the 
year  1887.  From  earlier  figures  published  in  preceding 
reports  of  the  labor-bureaus  it  may  be  inferred  that  since 

11  Helen  Campbell,  Prisoners  of  Poverty,  p.  175. 


344  The  American  Laborer 

1880  a  slight  increase  has  taken  place  in  the  wages  of 
women." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  reproduce  here  the  337  occupations 
from  which  the  data  for  this  study  were  secured.  In  four- 
teen occupations  the  average  exceeded  $365  ($1  a  day 
throughout  the  year)  and  in  thirty,  it  was  less  than  $183, 
i.  e.  fifty  cents  a  day.  In  the  former  class  are  found  manu- 
factories of  curtains,  tapestry,  feather  bedding  and  uphol- 
stery fabrics,  dentistry,  glove,  hosiery,  and  novelty  stores, 
etc.  But  the  differences  arise  rather  from  the  amount  of 
time  lost  than  from  the  kind  of  occupation.  In  the  latter 
group  several  industries  are  found  in  which  on  an  average 
each  employee  lost  more  than  100  days  a  year. 

The  representative  American  workingwoman  is  young: 
about  twenty-two  years  and  seven  months  of  age.  When 
she  is  fifteen  and  a  half  she  starts  to  work  and  at  eighteen 
finds  herself  in  the  most  numerous  age-group.  Above 
twenty-five  years  the  groups  rapidly  decrease  in  size  until 
we  reach  the  thirty-five-year  group  in  which  only  seven 
per  cent  are  included.  "  Working  girls,"  as  they  are  prop- 
erly called  in  America,  do  not  remain  in  the  stores  or  fac- 
tories more  than  five  years,  as  a  rule.  In  the  Fourth  Re- 
port of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  the  opinion  is  expressed 
that  their  chances  of  marriage  are  increased  by  the  fact  of 
their  employment.  "  A  woman  who  is  willing  to  work  hon- 
estly and  faithfully,  even  at  low  wages,  that  she  may  be 
able  to  support  herself,  has  certainly  a  better  chance  of  se- 
curing a  home  suited  to  her  station  in  life  than  the  one 
who  prefers  to  be  supported  by  her  friends.  The  observa- 
tions of  the  agents  of  the  Department  certainly  indicate 
that  such  is  the  case,  but  it  cannot  be  stated  as  a  statistical 
fact."  Nineteen-twentieths  of  the  workingwomen  investi- 
gated were  either  widows  or  unmarried.13     As  I  have  al- 

u  This,  however,  is  not  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  seamstresses 
of  Boston  in  1894  before  the  commission  on  the  subject  of  the 
unemployed. 

13  1038  widows,  745  married,  and  15,387  unmarried,  in  a  total  of 
17.4^7. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  345 

ready  remarked,  the  married  women  do  not  take  work  out- 
side of  their  homes. 

In  Chicago,  in  1893,  saleswomen  made  from  $4  to  $25 
a  week,  although  the  latter  rate  was  rare;  $8  a  week  would 
probably  be  a  little  below  the  average  rate,  I  was  told.  In 
any  event  the  average  would  be  superior  to  that  given  in 
the  report  upon  workingwomen  in  large  cities.  In  Boston 
the  wages  of  seamstresses  vary  greatly  according  to  indi- 
vidual skill  and  the  nature  of  the  work.  In  establishments 
of  the  first  rank,  in  1894,  good  operatives  made  from  $6  to 
$12  a  week,  some  as  high  as  $15,  but  the  work  lasted 
only  nine  months  in  the  year.  In  establishments  of  the 
second  rank  the  pay  ranged  from  $5  to  $8.  Among  ordi- 
nary seamstresses  the  competition  is  very  great  and  the 
wages  very  low.  Work  on  underwear  which  yields  some 
operatives  as  high  as  $8  and  $9  a  week,  pays  many  others 
not  more  than  $3  a  week. 

The  head  of  a  large  commercial  house  in  New  York, 
whom  I  consulted,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  figures  of 
the  commissioner  of  labor  were  too  low  in  general,  his 
reason  being  that  the  women  who  reported  would  be  in- 
clined to  underestimate  rather  than  to  exaggerate  their 
earnings.  He  estimated  that  the  average  earnings  of  shop 
girls  in  New  York  were  between  $6  and  $10  per  week  of 
54  hours,  10  hours  through  the  week  and  4  hours  on  Sat- 
urday. He  added  that  the  best  saleswomen  made  much 
more. 

In  fact  I  could  cite  a  large  dressmaking  establishment 
in  Xew  York  in  which  several  of  the  employees  make  as 
high  as  $2000  a  year — a  rate  that  is  paid  in  several  estab- 
lishments in  Paris  as  well.  Other  observations  made  in 
New  York  agree  with  the  testimony  just  quoted.  Stock 
girls  make  from  $5  to  $7;  saleswomen  from  $7  to  $10;  type- 
writers from  $8  to  $15,  a  week.  Information  which  I  gath- 
ered relating  to  several  small  manufactures  of  fancy-goods 
in  New  York  showed  that  the  weekly  wages  of  ordinary 


346  The  American  Laborer 

hands  on  artificial  flowers  and  feathers  was  from  $6  to  $10; 
the  best  hands  made  as  high  as  $12  and  $15.  These  two 
occupations  are  followed  by  the  same  women,  as  the  dull 
seasons  of  the  two  alternate. 

About  the  time  of  the  World's  Fair  an  account  of  the 
condition  of  workingwomen  in  the  shops  and  factories  of 
Philadelphia  employing  ten  or  more  persons,  appeared  from 
the  pen  of  Mary  A.  O'Reilly,"  a  factory  inspector.  The 
study  covered  166,325  persons;  75,744  men,  74,949  women, 
and  15,632  children.  In  Philadelphia  female  inspectors 
have  authority  only  over  these  factories  in  which  some 
women  are  employed.  In  such  factories,  then,  there  are 
practically  as  many  women  as  men.  Miss  O'Reilly  believes 
that  this  has  not  always  been  the  case  and  that  many  occu- 
pations have  been  opened  to  women  in  the  last  twenty 
years.  In  many  branches,  such  as  spinning  and  weaving, 
manufacture  of  millinery,  underwear,  fancy  goods,  perfum- 
ery, parasols,  buttons,  etc.,  the  women  outnumber  the  men, 
largely  because  the  needle  is  the  chief  tool  and  no  great 
strength  is  required.  Wages  in  these  industries  range  from 
$2  to  $25  a  week,  but  the  minimum  rate  is  that  of  young 
beginners,  while  the  higher  rate  is  paid  only  to  a  few 
modistes  who  are  out  of  work  nearly  six  months  of  the 
year.  In  the  textile  industries  (cotton,  wool,  silk,  carpet 
and  hosiery)  the  wages  sometimes  rise  as  high  as  $12,  $15, 
$20  a  week,  but  these  rates  are  exceptional;  the  great  ma- 
jority make  from  $5  to  $8,  the  average  being  very  close  to 
$6.  Miss  O'Reilly  has  no  complaint  to  make  of  this  rate 
which  she  believes  superior  to  that  of  other  large  cities;  in 
her  opinion  it  is  sufficient  for  a  woman  who  does  not  have 
to  support  a  family.  Women's  wages  in  Philadelphia,  she 
asserts,  are  high  compared  with  those  paid  in  other  cities 
east  of  the  Mississippi."  It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that 
this  study  does  not  cover  women  who  work  at  their  homes 

14  Women  Wage  Earners  of  the  City  and  County  of  Philadelphia. 
"  JVomeii  Wage  Earners,  p.  10. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  347 

or  establishments  employing  less  than  ten  persons,  and  in 
these  groups  wages  are  below  the  average. 

Wages  in  Michigan. — The  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor 
of  Michigan  has  given  a  less  favorable  account.  At  De- 
troit in  1892,  according  to  his  calculation,  female  employees 
made  from  $2.53  to  $7.20  a  week  in  the  boot  and  shoe 
manufacture;  from  $2.34  to  $4.67  at  book-binding;  from 
$2.42  to  $12  in  the  tobacco  factories;  from  $3.50  to  $4.89  in 
the  candy  manufacture;  from  $3  to  $3.50  in  the  clothing 
manufacture;  from  $1.58  to  $11.67  m  the  manufacture  of 
novelty  goods.  The  general  averages  were  75  cents  a  day, 
$4.65  a  week,  and  $219  a  year.  Nine  cities  had  a  daily  aver- 
age higher  than  Detroit,  the  highest  being  that  of  Pontiac, 
$1.02.  Five  had  a  lower  average,  the  minimum  being  59 
cents,  at  Wyandotte.  The  general  averages  for  the  State  of 
Michigan  were  79  cents  a  day,  $4.81  a  week,  and  $202  a 
year. 

Ninety  per  cent  of  the  13,139  workingwomen  reporting 
were  unmarried,  between  sixteen  and  twenty-six  years  of 
age,  and  lived  with  their  families.  In  some  cases  they 
worked  16  or  17  hours  a  day,  but  for  the  great  majority  the 
working-day  was  from  8  to  10  hours  long.  Almost  every 
one  lost  some  time,  but  for  seventy-five  per  cent  of  those 
interrogated  this  loss  did  not  exceed  four  weeks.18 

Wages  in  large  manufactures. — A  Canadian  physician  in 
Nashua  who  is  well  acquainted  with  the  conditions  of  the 
working  people  of  that  town,  told  me  that  the  women  who 
worked  in  the  factories  earned  on  an  average  from  $5  to 
$6.50  a  week.  In  a  large  manufactory  of  boots  and  shoes 
in  that  city  I  found  that  the  rate  was  somewhat  higher, 
from  $1.50  to  $2  a  day,  and  from  $9  to  $10  a  week.  I  add 
a  few  other  examples  which  are  a  little  more  useful. 

In  the  silk  factories  of  New  Jersey  it  is  probable  that 
half  the  female   employees  are   unmarried;  except   among 

18  Quoted  in  the  Fourth  Biennial  Report  of  the  State  of  Colorado, 
1893-1894,  p.  53  et  seq. 


348  The  American  Laborer 

weavers,  a  majority  of  whom  are  men,  the  average  age  is 
scarcely  twenty-five  years.  In  the  winding  department, 
where  women  only  are  employed,  the  weekly  earnings  aver- 
age about  $7;  for  packing  and  quilling  the  wages  are  much 
less,  but  weavers  and  warpers  make  $8  and  $9  a  week  (av- 
erage of  male  and  female  operatives).  Piecing,  which  is 
usually  done  by  married  women  at  their  homes  in  connec- 
tion with  their  household  work,  pays  from  $7  to  $8  a  week. 
Twenty  years  ago  wages  were  much  higher  in  the  silk 
manufacture,  but  in  the  last  fifteen  years  they  have  been 
greatly  reduced  by  competition,  although  some  statistics  in- 
dicate that  an  opposite  movement  has  taken  place.  But  the 
scale  seems  to  have  undergone  practically  no  change  since 
1882,  or  at  least  if  rates  per  piece  have  been  reduced,  im- 
proved machinery  has  compensated  for  the  diminution. 

In  a  large  tobacco  factory  in  St.  Louis  the  strippers  who 
worked  by  the  piece  made  from  $5  to  $10  a  week;  $6  on  an 
average.  In  the  pressing  room  where  the  hands  are  re- 
cruited from  the  strippers  and  rank  a  grade  higher,  time- 
workers  were  paid  as  high  as  $8  a  week  and  piece-workers 
$12  a  week.  The  average  as  shown  by  the  pay-roll,  how- 
ever, was  only  $7,  and  cigar-makers  were  paid  about  the 
same.  In  other  groups  the  hands  did  not  make  more  than 
half  of  this  amount. 

The  women  employed  in  a  large  manufactory  of  tinware 
in  Long  Island  made  from  60  cents  to  $1  a  day.1'  In  an 
important  book-bindery  in  New  York  the  female  employees 
made  on  an  average  15  cents  an  hour,  say  $1.35  for  a  nine- 
hour  day;  the  average  weekly  rate  was  about  $6.50,  and  the 
work  was  by  piece.  At  Schenectady,  New  York,  in  a 
manufactory  of  electrical  appliances,  the  women  employed 
at  winding  wire  could  make  from  $1  to  $1.75  a  day  working 
by  piece. 

Wages  in  small  manufactures. — One  or  two  examples  may 

17  The  New  Jersey  Report  ior  the  year  1888  gives  a  series  of 
weekly  wages  which  vary  from  $9  to  $4.20. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  349 

be  taken  from  the  smaller  establishments.  A  New  York 
dressmaker  who  employed  12  girls,  paid  out  each  week  from 
$63  to  $75,  or  in  the  long  run,  about  $6.30  for  each  em- 
ployee. The  working-day  lasted  from  eight  in  the  morn- 
ing until  six  in  the  evening,  with  three-quarters  of  an  hour 
for  lunch.  The  scale  of  wages  varied  from  $11  to  $2.50  a 
week:  the  minimum  was  received  by  a  girl  of  14  years. 
From  a  report  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  Califor- 
nia it  seems  that  in  1890  dressmakers  earned  about  $6  on 
an  average,  with  a  maximum  of  $16.50  and  a  minimum  of 
$2;  cutters  $6,  maximum  $20,  minimum  $2;  shirt-makers 
$6,  maximum  $10,  minimum  $2;  pressers  and  milliners 
made  less.18 

The  International  Union  of  Typographers,  into  which 
women  have  been  admitted  since  1869,  has  adopted  the  rule 
that  male  and  female  printers  shall  receive  exactly  the  same 
rates.  This  rule  has  been  of  less  benefit  to  the  women  than 
might  be  supposed.  There  are  many  women  in  the  print- 
ing trade,  but  most  of  them  are  found  in  non-union  shops 
and  here  they  receive  a  third  or  a  half  less  than  the  men. 
In  1892  there  were  700  female  printers  in  Boston  alone  and 
the  investigation  made  by  Mr.  Wadlin  in  1891  showed  that 
there  were  161 1  in  the  whole  State  of  Massachusetts.  The 
statistics  in  this  report  show  plainly  the  inferiority  of  wo- 
men's wages.  Only  13  per  cent  of  the  female  printers  were 
found  in  the  group  of  those  making  more  than  $10  a  week, 
as  against  55  per  cent  of  the  male  printers:  41  per  cent  of 
the  women  made  less  than  $8. 

At  the  general  assembly  of  typographers  in  1893  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  remedy  this  inconvenience  by  introduc- 
ing an  amendment  authorizing  a  lower  rate  for  women,  but 
the  motion  was  rejected.1' 

Wages  by  States. — From  the  returns  of  the  census  of  1890 
one  may  calculate  the  average  wages,  or  more  exactly,  the 

18  See  Fifth  Report,  California,  p.  222. 

19  Fourth  Biennial  Report  ....  Minnesota,  p.  182. 

24 


Woolen  industry. 

$6  03 

5 

98 

6 

11 

6 

43 

6 

20 

5 

91 

4 

98 

6 

30 

4 

78 

5 

66 

350  The  American  Laborer 

average  annual  earnings  by  States.  Mr.  North  has  calcu- 
lated the  following  averages  for  female  employees  in  the 
cctton  and  woolen  industries: 

Average  Weekly  Earnings 
of  Women. 
States.  i 

Cotton  industry. 

Massachusetts $5  89 

Maine 5  68 

New  Hampshire 5  83 

Connecticut 5  69 

Rhode  Island 5  70 

New  York 5  28 

New  Jersey 6  25 

Pennsylvania 6  42 

Georgia 4  55 

North  Carolina 3  21 

South  Carolina 3  90                             

In  almost  every  instance  the  employees  of  the  woolen  in- 
dustry are  a  little  better  paid  and  as  usual  the  southern 
rates  are  a  little  behind  those  of  New  England.20  $i  a  day 
may  be  fairly  taken  as  the  average  earnings  of  female  opera- 
tives in  these  two  industries. 

Classification  of  wage-earners. — In  1891  Mr.  Wadlin  insti- 
tuted a  very  extensive  investigation  of  wages  in  Massachu- 
setts, in  which  out  of  the  379,328  wage-earners  enumerated 
in  the  census,  174,766  workmen  and  73,434  workingwomen 
were  examined.  62.4  per  cent  of  the  latter  group  were  en- 
gaged in  fourteen  occupations,  among  which  spinning  and 
weaving  (cotton,  wool,  and  silk)  held  the  first  rank,  with 
37,127  operatives.  The  clothing  and  boot  and  shoe  indus- 
tries held  second  rank.  The  classification  prepared  by  Mr. 
Wadlin  is  as  follows : 


20  It  is  stated  in  the  Fourth  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor,  p.  14,  that  in  Atlanta  "  northern  women  imported  for  dress- 
making or  millinery  receive  more  than  double  the  pay  of  the 
native-born."  In  Charleston  only  colored  women  are  seen  in  the 
factories.  Among  the  whites  the  feeling  is  very  strong  that  women 
should  not  engage  in  this  kind  of  work. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  351 

Weekly  wages.  Per  ct.  of  workingwomen. 

Less  than  $5 34.6 

From  $5  to  $6 20. 0 

6  to     7 18.3 

7  to     8 10.8 

"        8  to     9 6.0 

9  to  10 4.3 

"      10  to  12 3.2 

"      12  to  15 1.8 

"      15  to  20 0.6 

Over  20 0.4 

100.0^1 

Thus  a  third  of  the  workingwomen  reporting  made  less 
than  $5;  a  little  less  than  two-fifths  made  from  $5  to  $7;  the 
remainder,  24.3  per  cent,  made  from  $7  to  $20.  But  only 
a  very  small  number,  2.8  per  cent,  made  more  than  $12, 
while  among  the  workmen  a  majority,  59.8  per  cent,  were 
grouped  between  $9  and  $20,  the  concentration  being 
greatest  between  $12  and  $15. 

In  the  cotton  industry,  one  of  the  least  remunerative  for 
the  employees,  49.7  per  cent  of  the  female  operatives  made 
less  than  $5  and  only  one-fifth  made  more  than  $9  a  week. 
In  the  manufactures  of  soap,  rope,  and  ink  the  pay  was  still 
less;  62,  71,  and  75  per  cent  respectively  of  the  employees 
of  these  industries  made  less  than  $5.  The  manufactures 
of  games  and  toys  were  among  those  industries  in  which 


21  This  scale  is  lower  than  the  one  given  by  Mr.  Wadlin  in  the 
Statistics  of  Manufactures,  1891,  p.  261.  The  latter  classification, 
which  I  append,  covers  the  whole  United  States. 

Less  than  85 26 . 8 

From  $5  to  $6 18.3 

"         6  to     7 18.7 

7  to     8 13.6 

8  to     9 9.2 

9  to  10 6.0 

10  to  12 4.4 

12  to  15 2.2 

15   to  20 0.7 

Over  20 0.1 

100.0 


352  The  American  Laborer 

the  wages  of  women  were  relatively  high;  35  per  cent  made 
more  than  $15. 

Inadequate  wages. — In  America  as  in  Europe  there  are 
pessimists  who  paint  in  sombre  colors  the  situation  of  those 
women  who  have  to  live  on  their  own  wages.  They  usu- 
ally see  but  one  side  of  the  picture,  it  is  true,  but  it  is  neces- 
sary to  consider  that  side:  it  is  only  too  real.  No  accu- 
rate idea  of  the  American  workingwoman  can  be  gained 
until  side  by  side  with  the  woman  who  lives  at  ease  upon 
her  husband's  earnings,  and  the  young  girl  who  lives  with 
her  parents  and  spends  her  modest  earnings  upon  personal 
pleasures  and  luxuries,  we  place  the  poignant  sufferings  of 
the  women  who  have  only  their  needles  with  which  to  sup- 
port their  families.  It  is  the  great  cities  rather  than  the 
country  in  which  this  spectacle  is  seen,  and  in  no  city  more 
frequently  perhaps  than  New  York,  where  the  extremes  of 
poverty  and  wealth  exist  side  by  side."  I  shall  speak  of 
this  sad  phenomenon  in  another  chapter.23  At  this  point  I 
confine  myself  to  a  simple  citation  from  a  report  of  the 
Bureau  of  Labor  of  the  United  States:  The  Slums  of  Great 
Cities.  Out  of  each  100  workingwomen  in  1894,  there  were 
34  in  Chicago,  43  in  Philadelphia,  54  in  New  York,  and  60 
in  Baltimore  who  earned  less  than  $5  a  week.24 

Domestic  service. — One  cannot  write  of  the  wages  of  wo- 
men without  saying  a  few  words  upon  domestic  service, 
which  after  all  is  the  calling  most  frequently  followed  by 
women.  According  to  the  census  of  1890,  of  female  per- 
sons ten  years  of  age  and  over  engaged  in  gainful  occupa- 
tions 42.6  per  cent  were  engaged  in  domestic  and  personal 
service,25  26.3  per  cent  in  manufacturing  and  mechanical  in- 

**  In  the  east  side  and  the  lower  part  of  the  city  especially,  the 
greatest  poverty  is  found.  "  The  nearer  the  river,  the  nearer  to 
hell,"  they  say. 

a  See  L'Ouvrkr  Americain,  part  i,  chap.  vii. 

24  Page  65. 

15  It  is  in  this  group  that  the  proportion  of  females  is  largest: 
females  38.25  per  cent,  males  61.75  per  cent.  In  the  other  groups, 
the  figures  indicating  the  percentage  of  females  are  as  follows: 
20.17,  7.53,  33.01,  6.85.    Abstracts  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  pp.  76,  77. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  353 

dustries,  17.4  per  cent  in  agriculture,  fisheries  and  mining, 
7.9  per  cent  in  professional  service,  and  5.8  per  cent  in 
trade  and  transportation.  It  is  true  that  the  1,667,698  fe- 
males reported  as  engaged  in  domestic  and  personal  service 
followed  very  different  occupations,  but  the  servants  num- 
bered i,2i6,639.28 

Servants  receive  higher  wages  in  America  than  in  Eu- 
rope and  it  may  be  stated  without  qualification  that  they  do 
less  work.  However  they  cook  and  do  general  housework, 
wash,  iron,  take  care  of  children  and  usually  make  the 
bread.  But  they  are  seldom  willing  to  do  any  other  than 
the  particular  work  for  which  they  are  engaged,  and  they 
demand,  and  usually  receive,  a  half-day's  holiday  on  Sun- 
day and  on  Wednesday  or  Thursday.  In  Philadelphia  an 
ordinary  servant  (white)  receives  from  $3  to  $3.50  a  week 
and  it  grows  more  and  more  difficult  to  get  them  at  this 
price.  In  New  York  they  make  from  $15  to  $20  a  month. 
I  was  told  in  New  York  that  the  sou  pour  livre  was  un- 
known, the  only  extra  fees  being  a  few  presents  from  the 
shopkeepers. 

The  wages  in  Chicago  are  $4  a  week;  during  the  exposi- 
tion they  often  rose  as  high  as  $5,  with  one  afternoon's  holi- 
day a  week.  In  Denver  the  wages  ascertained  by  an  inves- 
tigation ranged  from  $1.75  a  week  for  small  nurse-girls  to 
$25  a  month  for  cooks.  The  latter  rate  was  not  rare,  but 
in  a  few  instances  the  rate  was  as  low  as  $15:  $20  was  nearer 
the  average.  The  ordinary  rate  in  California  as  given  in 
the  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  California  for 
1892  was  from  $20  to  $25  a  month  for  cooks,  $15  to  $20  for 
second-class  servants,  $12  to  $20  for  chambermaids.  In 
the  South  the  number  of  colored  women  willing  to  accept 
household  service  makes  the  wages  low;  at  Rome,  Ga.,  for 


18  There  were  only  238,152  men  enumerated  in  the  group  of 
"  servants,"  of  which  86,089  were  classified  as  "  housekeepers  and 
stewards,"  41,396  as  "nurses  and  midwives,"  32>593  as  "boarding 
and  lodging  house  keepers." 


354  The  American  Laborer 

instance,  colored  servants  were  paid  from  $7  to  $10  in  1883, 
the  latter  rate  being  paid  in  the  hotels. 

A  young"  American  woman  who  was  asked  why  she  pre- 
ferred the  poor  and  irregular  wages  of  factory'  work  to 
those  paid  for  domestic  service,  replied:  "  It's  freedom 
that  we  want  when  the  day's  work  is  done.  I  know  some 
nice  girls, that  make  more  money  and  dress  bet- 
ter and  everything  for  being  in  service.  But  they're  never 
sure  of  one  minute  that's  their  own  when  they're   in  the 

house I  couldn't  stand  that  a  day."     "  Women  are 

always  harder  on  women  than  men  are,"  said  a  fur-sewer. 
"  I  got  tired  of  always  sitting,  and  took  a  place  as  cham- 
bermaid. The  work  was  all  right  and  the  wages  good,  but 
I'll  tell  you  what  I  couldn't  stand.  The  cook  and  the  wait- 
ress were  just  common,  uneducated  Irish,  and  I  had  to  room 
with  one  and  stand  the  personal  habits  of  both,  and  the  way 
they  did  at  table  took  all  my  appetite.     I  couldn't  eat  and 

began  to  run  down;  and  at  last  I  gave  notice "     The 

following  sentiments  were  expressed  by  an  Irish- American : 
"  We  came  to  this  country  to  better  ourselves,  and  it's  not 

bettering  to  have  anybody  ordering  you  round I  tell 

every  girl  I  know,  '  Whatever  ycu  do,  don't  go  into  ser- 
vice.' " 

A  girl  who  worked  at  a  stationer's  had  given  up  house- 
old  service  at  the  end  of  a  year  because  of  the  lonesome- 
ness :  "  except  to  give  orders  they  had  nothing  to  do  with 
me,"  she  said.  Another  objected  that  nurses  have  to  stand 
on  their  feet  from  six  in  the  morning  till  ten  at  night,  and 
then  are  accused  of  laziness  if  they  sit  down  for  a  moment. 
A  young  teacher  who  had  "  lived  out,"  resigned  her  place 
because  she  was  expected  to  wear  a  cap  and  apron.  An- 
other said  "  We  were  poor  at  home,  and  four  of  us  worked  in 
the  mill,  but  I  had  a  little  room  all  of  my  own,  even  if  it 
didn't  hold  much.  In  that  splendid  big  house  the  servants' 
room  was  over  the  kitchen — hot  and  close  in  summer,  and 
cold  in  winter,  and  four  beds  in  it.     We  five  had  to  live  there 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  355 

together,  with  only  two  bureaus  and  a  bit  of  a  closet,  and 
one  washstand  for  all." 

The  author  who  collected  this  testimony 27  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  character  of  domestic  service  has  radically 
changed  in  the  last  fifty  years,  that  there  is  no  occupation 
at  present  which  covers  so  much  licentiousness.  "  It  is 
this  state  of  things  which  makes  many  mothers  say: 
'  My  girl  shall  never  run  such  risks.  I'll  keep  her  from 
them  as  long  as  I  can.' "  The  Americans  do  not  like  to 
expose  their  moral  infirmities,  and  I  shall  not  dwell  upon 
them.  I  ought  even  to  point  out  that  the  author  wished  to 
prove  that  certain  classes  of  women  "  are  prisoners  of  pov- 
erty," and  chose  her  illustrations  accordingly. 

Several  of  the  objections  against  domestic  service  ex- 
pressed in  the  above  testimony  would  be  less  readily  under- 
stood in  France,  and  in  themselves  they  have  little  weight. 
Every  kind  of  work  or  service  has  its  obligations  and  dis- 
comforts. The  substance  of  all  of  them  is  contained  in  the 
simple  statement  that  American  women  dislike  the  calling 
both  on  account  of  its  duties  and  the  general  standing  of 
servants  in  public  opinion.  Most  girls  who  take  up  a 
trade  expect  to  work  at  it  only  until  they  have  found  a  hus- 
band and  the  young  workman  would  much  rather  have  a 
working  girl  for  his  fiancee  than  a  household  servant. 
"  Caste  prejudice,"  we  say,  but  prejudices  of  this  kind  are 
powerful  forces  in  all  classes  of  society  and  the  one  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking  prevents  many  a  girl  from  going 
out  to  service. 

It  is  necessary  perhaps  to  tone  down  a  little  the  state- 
ment of  the  dislike  of  Americans  for  domestic  service.  Ac- 
cording to  the  census  of  1880,  819,651  of  the  1,075,655  ser- 
vants enumerated  were  born  in  the  United  States,28  and  in 
Massachusetts  in  1885,  62.3  per  cent  of  the  female  servants 


27  Helen  Campbell,  Prisoners  of  Poverty,  1887,  pp.  221-232. 

28  122,194  born   in   Ireland,   43,444   in   Germany,    19,477  in    Great 
Britain,  22,050  in  English  colonies,  29,762  in  other  countries. 


356  The  American  Laborer 

were  born  in  the  United  States.  But  workmen  whom  I 
consulted  in  regard  to  this  matter  thought  that  most  of  the 
native-born  domestics  were  the  children  of  immigrants. 

Wages  of  children. — In  the  United  States  children  em- 
ployed as  aids  or  helpers  are  always  paid,  and  in  most  cases, 
the  same  is  true  of  apprentices.  I  have  described  the  pay 
of  apprentices  in  certain  establishments,  in  the  chapter  on 
men's  wages.  In  the  mechanical  industries  apprentices  usu- 
ally receive  70  cents  a  day  during  the  first  year,  80  cents 
the  second,  90  the  third,  and  $1  the  fourth.29  Horseshoers' 
apprentices  begin  at  50  cents  a  day.  In  the  manufacture 
of  artificial  flowers  and  feathers  apprentices  make  from 
$1.50  to  $4  a  week  while  regular  hands  make  from  $6  to  $9. 

In  1888  an  investigation  was  made  in  New  Jersey  cover- 
ing 22,478  workmen,  of  which  2626  were  children.  The 
weekly  wages  of  the  children  varied  between  $3.50  and 
$5.95,  that  of  the  men  from  $8.17  to  $16.72,  that  of  the  wo- 
men from  $4.20  to  $9.30  From  these  returns  it  seems  that 
the  wages  of  children  are  almost  two-thirds  as  much  as  the 
wages  of  women  and  less  than  one-half  those  of  men.  In 
Rhode  Island,  in  1891,  the  average  weekly  wages  of  chil- 
dren ranged  from  $2.45  (girls  employed  in  the  silk  mills) 
to  $3.83  (in  printing  houses).81  In  Pennsylvania  an  investi- 
gation covering  apprentices  in  thirty-five  trades  showed  that 
during  the  first  year  the  pay  varied  from  $1.75  to  $4  a  week, 
in  the  second  year  from  $2  to  $5,  in  the  third  from  $2  to  $6, 
in  the  fourth  year  from  $2  to  $9. 

Comparison  with  other  countries. — As  in  the  case  of  men's 
wages  so  with  those  of  women;  there  is  no  general  average; 
we  must  be  content  with  approximations.  In  America  it 
can  be  shown  that  a  very  great  majority  of  the  adult  female 
wage-earners  make  from  $5  to  $7  a  week.  We  may  then 
say  in  a  general  way  that  women  are  paid  about  half  as 


M  See  Report  ....  Minnesota,  1894.  p.  261. 

*°  Eleventh  Annual  Report  ....  New  Jersey,  1888,  p.  309. 

a  Fifth  Annual  Report  ....  Rhode  Island,  1892,  p.  181. 


Wages  of  Women  and  Children  357 

much  as  men,  although  this  exact  proportion  will  not  hold 
in  every  industry  in  which  men  and  women  perform  the 
same  kind  of  work. 

Women  receive  less  in  England,  as  is  shown  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  investigation  conducted  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
in  1886.  It  was  shown  in  this  investigation  that  on  an 
average  women  made  about  12s.  8d.  (say  $3.10)  in  the  fac- 
tories. One  quarter  of  those  enumerated  received  less  than 
ios.,  about  one-half  received  from  10s.  to  15s.,  and  a  small 
number,  engaged  principally  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton 
goods,  made  more  than  20s.  It  was  in  this  industry,  in  di- 
rect contradiction  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  America,  that 
the  general  average  of  women's  wages  (15s.  3d.)  was  the 
highest.  It  was  lowest  in  the  mining  (metals)  industries  (5s. 
iod.).  Sir  R.  Giffen  concludes  that  in  general  the  wages 
of  women  are  not  much  more  than  half  those  of  men.  The 
wages  of  children  were  very  much  less:  about  7s.  for  young 
girls  and  9s.  2d.  for  boys.32 

The  following  scale  which  is  quoted  by  Miss  Collet  in  her 
report  in  1894  was  originally  prepared  under  the  direction 
of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

WAGES    OP    WOMEN    IN    THE    TEXTILE    INDUSTRIES. 

Cotton,  Wool,  West  Wool 

Wages  per  week.  Lancashire     Lancashire  of  vr.virov.ira 

and  Cheshire,     and  York.       England.  ,  oritsnire. 

Less  than  10s 10.7  10.6                45.3                36.6 

From  10s.  to  15s 44.9  64.                    54.7                 62.8 

"      15s.  to  20s 32.  25.3                   ...                    0.6 

«     20s.  to  25s 12.1  0.1 

More  than  25s 0.3 

In  France,  according  to  the  statistics  of  the  Office  dn  Tra- 
vail (1891),  women  make  3  fr.  (60  cents)  a  day  on  an  aver- 
age in  the  Department  of  the  Seine  and  2  fr.  10  in  the  rest 
of  France.  Taking  the  State  industries  into  account  we 
may  say  that  the  general  average  for  the  whole  of  France  is 
about  2  fr.  35  a  day,  or  14  francs  a  week.     This  is  about 

32  Abstract  of  Labor  Statistics,  1894,  p.  82  ct  seq. 


358  The  American  Laborer 

one-half  the  average  rate  received  by  male  workmen. 
Omitting  gem-cutting  in  which  the  average  rises  to  5  fr.  15, 
it  is  in  the  textile  industries  that  women's  wages  are  highest 
— 2  fr.  45  in  the  spinning  mills  and  the  carpet  factories. 
On  the  other  hand  the  average  sinks  as  low  as  1  fr.  30  in 
the  manufacture  of  certain  preparations  for  painting.  The 
average  earnings  of  dressmakers  in  cities  range  from  I  fr. 
(La  Rochelle)  to  4  fr.  (Versailles);  nurses  make  from  75 
centimes  to  2  fr.  a  day. 

In  the  book-binderies  of  Paris  women  working  on  the 
editions  dc  luxe  average  5  fr.  80,  but  the  rate  descends  to 
1  fr.  60  in  the  fertilizer  factories.  Great  variations  are  found 
among  the  different  departments:  in  printing  houses,  for 
instance,  women  average  3  fr.  55  at  Paris,  3  fr.  45  in  the 
Department  of  the  Loire,  1  fr.  15  in  that  of  the  Mayenne.33 

33  See  Office  du  Travail:  Salaires  et  Duree  du  Travail  dans  V Indus- 
trie Francaise,  vol.  i,  ii,  iii. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FACTORS  DETERMINING  NOMINAL 
WAGES 

Preliminary. — We  must  be  careful  not  to  confuse  the  gain 
or  profit  of  an  undertaking  with  wages — the  price  received 
by  a  person  in  return  for  his  services.  In  this  chapter  I 
shall  speak  of  wages  only,  and  before  considering  what 
regulates  wages,  it  will  be  advisable  to  answer  the  prelim- 
inary question:  Is  it  true  that  the  wage-system  is  a  mere 
transitional  form  of  the  organization  of  labor  and  is  des- 
tined to  disappear?  If  so,  it  would  be  idle  to  study  it  at 
length;  we  should  be  better  occupied  in  considering  its 
successor. 

Slavery,  serfdom,  the  wage-system:  this  is  the  succession 
which  certain  schools  think  they  perceive  in  history,  and 
from  it  they  argue  that  the  last  system  will  have  a  succes- 
sor too.  Socialists  from  the  time  of  Saint-Simon  and  Fou- 
rier have  denounced  the  wage-system  as  a  form  of  slavery, 
and  in  their  apocalyptic  dreams  have  caught  sight  of  a  fourth 
phase  of  civilization,  one  of  whose  conditions  will  be  the 
freedom  of  labor  and  the  complete  or  partial  suppression  of 
private  property.  This  is  a  conviction  based  upon  faith 
rather  than  upon  observation.  Those  who  really  have  the 
faith  are  simply  deluded.  Those  who  lack  the  faith  and  yet 
declaim  against  the  wage-system  must  be  held  guilty  of 
fomenting  social  strife  and  of  diverting  the  laborer  from  the 
practical  means  of  improving  his  condition.  In  general 
socialistic  schools  profess  this  doctrine  more  or  less  openly. 
The  two  great  American  federations  of  labor  incline  towards 


360  The  American  Laborer 

it  in  theory,  but  in  practice  and  while  the  present  wage- 
system  remains  an  established  fact,  they  endeavor  to  in- 
crease the  gain  and  the  leisure  of  the  wage-earner.1 

The  truth  is  that  there  has  always  been  a  class  of  wage- 
earners,  even  at  the  period  in  which  the  laboring  class  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  slaves.  The  system  may  thus  be  said  to 
be  inherent  in  human  society;  its  development  has  taken 
place  pari  passu  with  that  of  individual  liberty,  or  what  is 
the  same  thing,  it  has  been  contemporaneous  with  the  pro- 
gress of  industry;  and  it  will  remain  one  of  the  necessary 
forms  of  social  organization  so  long  as  liberty  endures.  As 
M.  Beauregard  has  so  well  said:  "The  wage-contract  in- 
heres in  the  very  nature  of  things,  and  it  will  remain,  of 
necessity,  the  contract  par  excellence,  the  principal  form  of 
the  distribution  of  wealth.  It  is  a  mistake  to  turn  the 
laborer  against  it  by  illusory  promises."  s  The  contract  is 
not  only  legitimate  in  principle,  but  in  most  cases  it  is  bene- 
ficial to  the  two  contracting  parties  and  indispensable  to 
the  cooperation  of  the  factors  of  production. 

The  management  of  any  form  of  business  is  a  difficult 
and  delicate  task  at  which  many  fail  and  for  which  not  every- 
one is  adapted.  State  operation  of  industry  would  by  no 
means  do  away  with  the  wage-system,  and  the  present  ten- 
dency towards  industrial  concentration,  far  from  conducing 
to  the  extinction  of  the  wage-earning  class,  is  increasing 
the  number  of  wage-earners  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  employers.  The  office  of  the  employer,  then,  is  not  only 
one  which  exists  by  right  as  an  outcome  of  the  freedom  of 
labor,  but  it  is  an  economic  necessity,  whether  it  be  exer- 
cised by  the  directors  of  corporations  or  by  individuals  act- 
ing in  private  capacities.     Instead  of  disappearing,  it  tends 

1  In  the  American  Federatianist  (March,  1896)  I  read  of  "  the  sys- 
tem of  economical  brigandage  known  as  the  wage-system."  I 
prefer  the  philosophy  embodied  in  Bastiat's  social  harmony,  and 
his  derivation  of  the  wage-system  from  the  necessity  of  association 
and  insurance  against  risk. 

1  Essai  sur  la  Theorie  du  Salaire,  p.  408. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  361 

to  become  more  important,  if  not  with  respect  to  the  number 
of  employers,  at  least  with  respect  to  the  number  of  work- 
men they  direct. 

An  organization  of  labor  such  as  the  Saint-Simonians 
projected  would  make  the  wage-system  universal  instead  of 
destroying  it,  while  it  would  guarantee  the  wage-earner 
neither  the  right  of  discussion  nor  the  choice  of  occupation. 
And  all  the  communistic  plans  which  have  been  proposed, 
with  the  exception  of  those  which  abandon  all  organization 
and  frankly  accept  anarchy,  would  lead  to  the  same  goal. 
Such  would  have  been  the  result  of  Fourier's  system,  for 
instance,  had  it  been  applied  in  all  its  rigor.  Only  one  form 
of  association — productive  cooperation — of  which  I  shall 
speak  later,  would  really  take  the  place  of  the  wage-system. 
In  certain  cases,  as  I  have  explained  several  times,  this  is  a 
very  praiseworthy  and  desirable  form  of  organization,  but 
at  present  it  is  within  the  reach  of  only  a  small  number  of 
workmen.  And  it  should  be  added  that  the  cooperative 
societies  themselves  employ  a  form  of  wage-payment,  which 
the  more  intelligent  theoretical  advocates  of  cooperation  in 
France  now  endeavor  to  prove  is  wise. 

Bastiat,  presenting  only  the  favorable  side  of  the  wage- 
contract,  held  it  up  as  a  form  of  cooperation  advantageous 
to  the  entrepreneur  who  is  thereby  enabled  to  produce 
more,  advantageous  to  society  which  profits  by  the  increased 
production,  and  advantageous  to  the  laborer  who  would 
make  less  if  he  worked  alone  on  his  own  account.  The 
reason  given  for  the  last  statement  is  that  the  workman 
would  net  accept  employment  unless  he  expected  to  gain 
by  it,  but  the  alternative  suggested  is  undoubtedly  a  fiction; 
in  reality  the  laborer  has  no  choice.  It  contains,  however, 
a  certain  amount  of  truth. 

Under  his  direction  the  employer  must  have  collabor- 
ators, and  the  number  of  these  in  any  given  enterprise  in- 
creases as  the  industry  becomes  more  concentrated.  And 
the  plain  tendency  of  industry,  I  repeat,  is  towards  concen- 
tration. 


302  The  American  Laborer 

The  services  of  these  collaborators  are  paid  for  from 
time  to  time  at  prices  fixed  in  advance,  and  the  wage-pay- 
ment is  a  much  more  regular  and  convenient  form  of  re- 
muneration than  a  share  in  the  ultimate  profits,  the  arrange- 
ment that  would  ordinarily  be  adopted  in  a  system  of  co- 
operation. It  is  more  equitable  also  than  distribution  at 
the  arbitrary  pleasure  of  one  of  the  factors,  a  method  fol- 
lowed in  certain  industrial  communities.  We  must  bend 
our  energies,  not  to  the  quixotic  task  of  abolishing  the 
wage-system,  but  to  the  discovery  and  application  of  meth- 
ods by  which  the  wage-system  may  be  employed  to  the  bet- 
ter advantage  of  both  those  who  sell  and  those  who 
purchase  human  labor.  In  pursuit  of  practical  aims  such 
as  these,  American  workmen  have  justly  demanded  the 
weekly  payment  of  wages,  and  have  exercised  their  right  of 
association  by  forming  unions  whose  common  object  is  the 
improvement  of  the  present  conditions  of  labor. 

We  may  denote  by  the  comprehensive  term  services  all 
those  returns  made  by  wage-earners  for  the  wages  they  re- 
ceive. When  services  take  the  form  of  "  productive  labor  " 
— which  is  ordinarily  the  case  with  the  workman — they  con- 
tribute to  the  creation  of  a  fund  of  riches  which  is  the  result 
of  the  collaboration  of  the  entrepreneur,  the  capitalist,  and 
the  laborer;  or  to  be  more  exact,  the  result  of  the  directive 
labor  of  the  entrepreneur  and  the  directed  and  salaried  labor 
of  the  employee,  the  two  conjoined  making  capital  effective. 

In  general  the  entrepreneur  conceives  and  directs  the 
work,  the  laborer  executes  it  with  tools  and  materials  sup- 
plied by  the  entrepreneur,  and  the  latter  in  turn  delivers  or 
sells  the  product.  It  is  upon  this  selling  value  that  the  re- 
muneration of  each  factor  is  determined,  and  by  a  distribu- 
tion of  this  value  that  each  receives  the  share  which  is  al- 
lotted to  it  either  before  or  after  the  sale.  The  proportion 
of  each  is  not  the  same  in  all  cases  and  it  is  not  invariable: 
each  factor  must  look  out  for  itself  in  the  distribution  of  the 
product.  Whether  the  laborer  gets  a  fair  share,  then,  de- 
pends largely  upon  himself,  upon  the  skill  and  fidelity  he 


Factars  Determining  Nominal  Wages  363 

displays  in  his  work,  and  upon  the  manner  in  which  he  util- 
izes his  rights  in  the  drawing  up  of  the  wage-contract. 

Not  all  services  are  applied  to  the  direct  production  of 
wealth.  The  wage-contract  by  which  one  party  furnishes 
his  money  in  return  for  the  time  and  labor  of  another,  is 
entered  into  not  only  by  laborers,  but  by  all  kinds  of  em- 
ployees, officials,  domestics,  etc.  The  labor  of  many  such 
employees  does  not  ordinarily  result  in  a  tangible,  material 
product,  and  it  is  very  necessary  to  recognize  that  in  these 
cases,  wages  cannot  be  measured  by  the  value  of  the  pro- 
duct. 

By  a  singular  misconception  of  facts  the  socialistic  schools 
which  proceed  from  Proudhon  and  Karl  Marx  lay  down 
the  principle  that  labor  creates  the  whole  value  of  the  pro- 
duct. On  the  strength  of  this  theory  they  condemn  the 
wage-system  because  it  allots  to  the  laborer  only  a  part  cf 
the  value  of  the  product,  and  ordinarily  allows  interest  on 
capital  and  profits  to  the  entrepreneur.  But  their  analysis 
of  production  and  their  theory7  of  value  will  not  bear  close 
examination  and  the  pseudo-principle  they  deduce  from 
them  is  in  contradiction  both  to  economic  science  and  com- 
mon sense.  Moreover  they  have  great  difficulty  in  adjust- 
ing their  theory  to  those  services  which  do  not  result  in  a 
material  product.  Their  condemnation  will  not  destroy  the 
wage-system. 

The  wage-system  is  not  a  transitory  phenomenon  in 
free  societies,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
under  the  influence  of  machinery  and  concentration  the 
proportion  of  wage-earners  will  go  on  increasing,  as  it  in- 
creased in  Europe  and  particularly  in  France  by  the  sup- 
pression of  the  craft-gilds.  There  is  place,  then,  after  the 
recital  of  the  facts  concerning  the  condition  of  the  American 
laborer  in  the  preceding  chapters,  for  a  study  of  the  causes 
which  determine  the  rate  of  wages. 

In  the  present  chapter  I  shall  treat  of  nominal  wages 
only,  the  payment  in  money  or  kind  which  the  wage-earner 
receives.     I  shall  speak  only  incidentally  of  real  wages,  i.  e 


364  The  American  Laborer 

the  quantity  of  necessaries,  conveniences  and  luxuries  which 
the  nominal  wage  will  purchase.  The  latter  aspect  of  the 
question  will  be  treated  after  I  have  described  the  laborer's 
mode  of  living.3 

The  causes  of  nominal  wages  which  I  am  going  to  con- 
sider are  of  varying  importance  and  more  or  less  interre- 
lated. As  I  am  dealing  with  the  American  workman  I  have 
confined  myself  practically  to  the  doctrines  and  opinions 
current  in  America.  They  are,  in  the  order  cf  treatment,  as 
follows:  custom  and  institutions,  supply  and  demand,  cost 
of  living,  competition,  industrial  capital  or  the  wages  fund, 
the  general  state  of  wealth,  the  intensity  of  consumption. 

Custom. — In  any  district  or  any  industrial  establishment 
wages  at  a  given  time  are  fairly  well  fixed  and  most  work- 
men and  employers  do  not  inquire  beyond  this  simple  fact: 
they  accept  the  customary  rates.  In  many  instances  it  is  this 
existing  or  customary  rate  which  determines  the  assemblage 
of  workmen  or  the  construction  of  a  proposed  factory  at  a 
given  place.  Custom,  then,  has  a  great  influence  in  fixing 
the  rate  of  wages,  although  it  may  be  objected  that  cus- 
tom explains  nothing,  that  there  is  no  fact  corresponding  to 
the  word.  Every  phenomenon  has  its  cause  and  the  cus- 
tomary rate,  like  other  rates,  is  doubtless  regulated  by  the 
general  law  of  wages.  But  the  very  fact  that  a  specific  rate 
does  obtain  at  any  point,  proves  the  existence  of  a  certain 
inertia  which  is  often  great  enough  to  preserve  the  rate  in- 
tact long  after  the  strictly  economic  conditions  which  pro- 
duced it  have  disappeared.  This  is  why  custom  must  be 
numbered  among  the  causes  which  determine  wages.*     Cus- 

3  See  ch.  ix.  [The  chapters  on  the  laborer's  mode  of  living 
have  not  been  translated,  and  may  be  found  in  the  second  part  of 
L'Ouvrier  Americain.~\ 

*  It  is  something  akin  to  what  Miss  Collet  calls  "  an  unconscious 
trades-union  "  that  fixes  the  natural  minimum  which  each  member 
of  a  social  class  is  willing  to  receive,  and  which,  by  strengthening 
the  laborer  in  his  demand  for  this  minimum,  diminishes  the  resist- 
ance of  employers.  "The  visible  trades-union  is  impossible."  Miss 
Collet  says,  "  unless  this  unconscious  trades-union  already  exists." 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  365 

torn  acts  as  a  preservative  agent,  and  if  wages  are  more 
stable  than  prices,  it  is  to  custom,  at  least  in  part,  that  this 
relative  fixity  is  due. 

The  influence  of  custom  is  universal,  although  it  is  less 
potent  among  the  higher  than  among  the  lower  classes  of 
labor,  and  in  countries  in  which  the  people  are  free  and  edu- 
cated than  in  those  where  the  opposite  conditions  prevail. 
Where  the  laboring  class  is  qualified  by  organization  and 
intelligence  to  take  care  of  its  own  interests,  tradition  loses 
its  force  and  the  interaction  of  supply  and  demand  becomes 
of  increasing  importance  in  the  regulation  of  wages.  Cus- 
tom may  also  be  modified  or  solidified  by  law  or  adminis- 
trative measures.  When  the  public  authorities  establish 
maximum  rates,  as  Charles  XI  and  the  Convention  of 
France  did,  they  modify  the  prices  and  natural  movement 
of  labor;  and  when  they  publish  official  tariffs  of  prices,  as 
was  done  by  the  city  of  Paris,  they  exert  a  modifying  in- 
fluence which  up  to  a  certain  point  is  effective.  When  by 
education  or  a  rise  of  wages,  the  extension  of  the  suffrage 
or  the  progress  of  democracy  the  laboring-class  rises  to 
higher  political  and  social  levels,  the  wage-earner  becomes 
less  humble,  less  resigned,  and  finds  in  himself  or  in  or- 
ganization an  increased  vigor  whereby  to  exert  an  influence 
upon  the  wage-contract. 

The  democratic  spirit  of  the  American  people  has  assist- 
ed materially  in  preserving  the  custom  of  high  wages.  The 
testimony  of  de  Tocqueville  upon  this  point,  given  some 
sixty  years  ago  before  the  development  of  the  labor  union, 
is  still  worthy  of  citation :  "  I  think  that,  upon  the  whole, 
it  may  be  asserted  that  a  slow  and  gradual  rise  of  wages  is 
one  of  the  general  laws  of  democratic  communities.  In 
proportion  as  social  conditions  become  more  equal,  wages 
rise;  and  as  wages  are   higher,   social  conditions  become 

See  The  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  April,  1891,  p.  367.  John 
Stuart  Mill  emphasized  the  influence  of  custom,  and  Emile  Cheval- 
lier  devoted  to  it  a  chapter  of  his  work  Les  Salairies  an  XlXe  Steele. 

25 


3G6  The  American  Laborer 

more  equal In  the  constant  struggle  for  wages  which 

is  going  on  between  these  two  classes,  their  strength  is  di- 
vided, and  success  alternates  from  one  to  the  other." ' 

Wage-scales. — The  wage-scale  might  be  called  a  con- 
ventional or  written  custom,  but  when  there  is  enough  har- 
mony between  employers  and  employees  to  secure  the  adop- 
tion of  one,  the  scale  becomes  more  binding  than  simple 
custom  because  it  constitutes  a  contract  which  is  in  force 
for  an  extended  period  of  time.  The  term  is  not  ordinarily 
longer  than  six  months  or  a  year  in  the  United  States,  as 
the  American  does  not  care  to  relinquish  his  freedom  of 
choice  for  a  long  period.  The  scale  may  be  individual  or 
collective,  that  is  to  say,  between  a  workman  and  his  em- 
ployer or  between  an  association  of  employers  and  an  asso- 
ciation of  workmen.  The  collective  scale,  which  is  com- 
mon in  America  and  particularly  in  the  building  and  metal- 
lurgical industries,  presupposes  a  strong  organization  of 
labor.  Wages  regulated  by  scale  are  more  variable  and 
more  rigidly  conformable  to  the  value  of  the  product  than 
those  regulated  by  custom. 

The  scale  should  be  beneficial  to  both  parties.  To  illus- 
trate: in  an  industry  which  pays  $2  a  day  and  the  workmen 
make  10  articles  daily,  the  employer  may  offer  18  cents  per 
article  and  the  workmen  accept,  making  under  the  piece- 
system  12  articles  a  day  and  earning  $2.16,  while  the  em- 
ployer reduces  the  cost  of  production  2  cents  per  unit. 
This  is  what  takes  place  ordinarily.  But  the  workmen  fear 
that  competition  among  themselves  will  finally  lead  to  re- 
ductions of  the  rate  per  piece  which  will  bring  the  daily  wage 
down  to  $1.80  or  less:  this  is  the  path  that  leads  to  the 
sweating  system.  The  scale  may  be  fixed  or  movable,  the 
latter  species  being  known  as  the  sliding-scale.  In  the 
sliding-scale  a  certain  standard  piece-rate  is  taken  as  the 
base,  corresponding  to  a  certain  average  price  of  the  pro- 

1  Democracy  in  America,  Bowen's  edition,  third  book.  ch.  vii,  pp. 
230,  231. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  367 

duct,  and  the  piece-rate  increases  or  decreases  as  the  price 
goes  up  or  down.  The  sliding-scale  is  only  practicable 
where  the  product  is  sufficiently  simple,  and  its  price  well 
understood  in  the  open  market.  The  unions  also  fear  that 
the  final  result  of  the  sliding-scale  will  lower  wages,  as  it 
destroys  much  of  the  employer's  interest  in  maintaining  high 
prices.  "  What  would  have  happened,"  they  say,  "  if  wages 
had  been  rigidly  regulated  by  the  price  of  steel  or  calico?" 

Supply  and  demand. — Here  we  have  the  efficient  cause 
and  the  supreme  law  of  value,  the  law  which  fixes  the  rate 
of  wages  as  it  fixes  the  prices  of  commodities.  Most  econo- 
mists since  Adam  Smith  have  expounded  it  more  or  less 
clearly.  But  the  socialists  and  some  economists  contemptu- 
ously dismiss  it  as  a  truism,  though  thereby  they  but  demon- 
strate their  inability  to  comprehend  it.  It  is  indeed  true 
that  the  phrase  means  little  in  itself;  we  must  show  the  con- 
ditions which  regulate  supply  and  demand,  which  establish 
different  classes  of  wages  and  maintain  differences  between 
them.  For  the  law  embraces  and  sums  up  all  the  causes  we 
are  considering:  productivity  which  puts  a  commercial 
value  upon  a  laborer  and  stimulates  the  demand  for  his 
labor;  competition  of  laborers  which  increases  the  supply  as 
the  competition  of  employers  increases  the  demand;  the 
cost  of  living  which  curtails  the  supply  when  the  demand- 
price  is  inadequate;  the  abundance  of  capital  which  swells 
the  demand;  the  consumption  of  commodities  which  acts  in 
a  similar  way  when  it  is  active;  the  improvement  of  ma- 
chinery which  first  deadens,  then  strengthens,  the  demand. 
if  the  diminution  of  price  sufficiently  stimulates  consump- 
tion; immigration  which  augments  the  supply;  education 
which  closes  the  gap  between  the  different  classes  of  labor 
and  which  in  the  end  may  affect  unfavorably  the  highest 
classes  of  wage-earners;  labor-crganizations  which  may  en- 
hance wages  by  concentrating  the  supply,  as  associations  of 
employers  may  concentrate  the  demand. 

Productivity. — Among  these  special  causes  the  produc- 
tivity of  labor  must  certainly  be  placed  in  the  first  rank. 


3G8  The  American  Laborer 

The  wage-system  is  a  method  of  distribution  by  which  the 
laborer  receives  a  share  of  the  value  of  the  good  in  whose 
production  he  collaborates,  which  share  is  fixed  in  advance 
by  an  anticipation  of  the  probable  value  of  the  product.  It 
is  plain  that  the  labor  which  creates  no  value  produces  no 
fund  from  which  wages  may  be  paid,  and  that  the  person 
who  would  reward  such  labor  would  end  in  bankruptcy. 
It  is  just  as  evident,  on  the  other  hand,  that  where  the  labor- 
er adds  some  value  by  increasing  the  quantity  or  improv- 
ing the  quality  of  the  product,  there  we  have  the  material 
for  a  remuneration  to  which  the  laborer  is  entitled.  Wages. 
said  President  Walker,  are  determined  by  production;  they 
are  paid  out  of  the  product  of  industry  and  are  equal  to  the 
value  of  the  product  minus  interest  and  profits.  That 
wages  are  a  "  residue  " — what  is  left  of  the  product  after  in- 
terest and  profits  have  been  deducted — is  a  very  doubtful 
proposition;  in  reality  wages  form  part  of  the  expenses  of 
production. 

But  whether  wages  be  a  residual,  or  on  the  contrary,  an 
anticipated  share,  it  is  essential  that  the  laborer  should 
know  and  maintain  his  rights,  for  the  entrepreneur  will  not 
voluntarily  offer  him  all  that  he  can  obtain.  "  If  the  wage 
laborer,"  says  General  Walker  in  another  place,  "  does  not 
pursue  his  interest,  he  loses  his  interest." 8 

In  piece-work  the  connection  between  wages  and  pro- 
duction is  more  apparent  than  in  day-labor.  The  chairman 
of  the  committee  which  investigated  the  Homestead  strike 
asked  the  director  of  the  Carnegie  works  upon  what  basis 
he  fixed  the  maximum  and  minimum  rates  of  wages. 
"  Upon  the  selling  prices  of  our  goods,"  the  director  an- 
swered. He  might  have  added  that  every  variation  of 
prices  could  not  have  been  reflected  in  wages  and  that  the 
fixation,  preceding  both  production  and  sale,  must  neces- 
sarily have  been  an  approximate  one. 

Productivity  is  the  principal  cause  of  the  wide  range  of 

"  The  Jl'agcs  Question,  ch.  x. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  369 

wages,  from  those  of  the  apprentice  to  those  of  the  fore- 
man in  the  same  shop,  from  the  wages  of  the  navvy  to  those 
of  the  sculptor.  The  proof  of  this  is  seen  in  the  practice 
some  employers  have  of  offering  certain  extra  compensa- 
tion, premiums  on  production,  on  sales,  on  extra  diligence, 
or  economy  in  the  use  of  material;  the  incentive  to  profit- 
sharing  is  also  found  in  its  effect  upon  productivity.  On 
the  other  hand  we  have  the  fine  or  forfeit  in  piece-work,  but 
this  virtually  transforms  the  wage-earner  into  an  entre- 
preneur. 

The  causes  of  productivity  are  of  two  kinds:  causes  im- 
personal to  the  wage-earner,  on  the  one  hand,  such  as  the 
organization  of  plant  and  machinery;  on  the  other  hand, 
those  individual  qualities  or  personal  causes  which  Fourier 
has  called  collectively  le  talent,  but  which  most  economists 
know  by  the  word  "  capacity."  The  former  are  predomi- 
nant in  a  large  textile  factory  for  instance,  where  the  work- 
man is  a  sort  of  machine.  The  latter  are  predominant  in  a 
bank  cashier  or  a  bronze-worker. 

Following  General  Walker  a  number  of  American  econo- 
mists, notably  Mr.  Jacob  Schoenhof,7  have  defended  the 
productivity  theory  as  the  supreme  law  of  wages.  The 
erection  into  a  principle  of  the  proposition  that  wages 
measure  productivity  is  very  pleasing  to  the  self-love  of  the 
Americans.  They  argue  that  since  wages  are  higher  in  the 
United  States  than  in  other  countries,  the  American  laborer 
is  the  most  skillful  and  the  American  nation  the  most  pro- 
ductive in  the  world. 

Mr.  Atkinson  finally  adopts  the  same  explanation  as  Gen- 
eral Walker — productivity — but  in  his  words:  "Wages  are 
held  to  be  a  consequence — a  result — a  remainder  over  after 
capital  has  received  such  profit  as  will  have  induced  it  to 
undertake  the  work;  the  rate  of  wages  cannot  therefore  be 


7  "  A  high  rate  of  wages  expresses  a  high  rate  of  productiveness, 
and  its  converse  a  high  consuming  power."  The  Economy  of  High 
linages,  p.  63. 


370  The  American  Laborer 

considered  a  true  measure  of  the  cost  of  production.  Wages 
are  a  consequent  result,  and  their  measure  or  rate  is,  and 
must  be,  determined,  in  the  long  run,  by  what  the  product 
will  bring,  and  not  by  what  the  capitalist  may  either  prom- 
ise or  be  willing  to  pay  for  a  given  time."  Further  on  the 
author  justly  says:  "  Low  wages  are  not  essential  to  a  low 
cost  of  production,  but  on  the  contrary  usually  indicate  a 
high  cost  of  production.  .  .  ." 8 

The  American  laborer  is  a  hard  worker,  without  doubt.  It 
is  just  as  true  that  the  American  entrepreneur,  who  pays 
high  wages  because  it  is  the  custom,  provides  him  with  the 
best  tools  and  equips  the  factory  in  which  he  works  with 
the  most  powerful  and  economic  machinery.  But  the  entre- 
preneur is  eager  for  profit  and  after  having  provided  the 
best  equipment  possible,  gets  all  he  can  from  man  and  ma- 
chine.* 

In  his  Elements  of  Political  Economy  Professor  Laughlin 
adopts  Mill's  doctrine  of  the  wage-fund  in  an  amended  form, 
and  accepts  the  general  productivity  of  labor  as  the  deter- 
mining cause  of  high  or  low  wages.  He  adds,  very  justly, 
that  wages  oscillate  above  or  below  this  level  up  to  the 
moment  in  which  the  demand  and  supply  of  labor  fix 
accurately  the  point  of  understanding  between  the  employer 
and  the  employee.10 

Before  the  publication  of  President  Walker's  book  on 
wages,  several  European  economists,  particularly  Thornton 
in  his  book  On  Labour,  had  spoken  of  the  influence  of  pro- 
ductivity. Leroy-Beaulieu,  who  had  emphasized  its  im- 
portance in  his  Travail  des  Fetmnes  an  XIX  Sicclc,  also  lays 
claim  in  his  Traite  Theorique  et  Pratique  d'Economie  Politique 
to  part  parentage  of  this  doctrine.     I,  myself,  have  always 

8  Edward  Atkinson,  The  Distribution  of  Products,  pp.  53.  63. 

'  Even  at  piece-work  the  rapid  workman  is  cheaper  than  the  slow 
one  in  industries  in  which  costly  machinery  is  required.  The  cost 
of  production  is  less  with  fast  workman  because  the  interest  on 
capital  per  unit  of  product  is  less.  Cf.  Marshall,  Principles  of 
Economics,  third  edition,  p.  628.  10  Vol.  ii,  pp.  268  and  280. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  3?1 

placed  productivity  in  the  first  rank  among  the  causes  of 
wages.  Twenty-five  years  ago  I  taught  the  doctrine  at  the 
Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers  and  in  my  Precis  d1 Econo- 
mic Politique  wrote  that  between  labor  and  its  product — both 
are  commodities u — there  exists  an  essential  difference, 
which  consists  of  the  fact  that  the  product  tends  to  sell  for, 
what  it  costs  while  labor  tends  to  sell  for  what  it  is  worth. 
In  other  words  the  price  of  the  product  tends  to  fall  under 
the  influence  of  competition,  as  the  cost  of  production  de- 
creases, while  within  certain  limits  wages  tend  to  rise  in 
proportion  to  the  productivity  of  the  laborer.1* 

Under  the  title  "  the  economic  paradox,"  it  has  even  been 
my  custom  to  demonstrate  in  my  lectures  how  manufac- 
turers could  pay  more  for  their  labor  and  raw  material,  sell 
their  products  cheaper,  and  at  the  same  time  make  more 
profit  than  they  are  now  doing.  All  that  is  necessary  is 
machinery  powerful  enough  to  produce  much  more  per  unit 
of  time  with  the  same  labor  force.  It  is  a  simple  illustra- 
tion of  the  productivity  of  labor.13 

But  I  have  always  been  careful  to  add  that  we  cannot  re- 
gard the  productivity  theory  as  the  only  law  of  wages,  or 
indeed  as  a  law  without  exception.  Domestics,  for  instance, 
are  paid  higher  wages  in  America  than  in  Europe,  and  yet 
they  do  less  work.  In  both  continents  they  do  less  work 
and  receive  higher  wages  now  than  they  did  fifty  years  ago. 

Nor  can  it  be  held  that  in  all  times  and  industries  the 

11  This  word  applied  to  labor  wounds  the  sensibility  of  certain 
publicists  who,  without  understanding  its  usage,  prefer  to  be  vague 
and  sentimental  rather  than  scientific  in  their  use  of  terms. 

13  Mr.  Hewitt  expressed  almost  the  same  idea  in  his  speech  de- 
livered upon  accepting  the  presidency  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers,  in  1800.  He  speaks  of  "  the  law  which  Edward 
Atkinson  discovered,  and  which  he  and  Robert  Giffer  have  demon- 
strated, to  wit:  Tbat  labor  is  receiving  a  steadily  increasing  share 
of  a  steadily  increasing  product;  and  that  capital  is  receiving  a 
steadily  diminishing  share  of  an  increasing  product,  still  insuring 
for  it  an  adequate  remuneration  "  Many  others  have  expressed 
the  same  idea;  it  has  been  current  among  economists  for  a  long 
time.  "Precis  d' Economic  Politique,  p.  35. 


372  The  American  Laborer 

wage  of  the  laborer  increases  in  proportion  to  the  value  he 
produces.  As  the  product  is  finally  sold  we  may  admit  that 
the  laborer  receives  a  share  of  the  selling  price.  But  what 
share?  Certainly  not  one  which  bears  an  invariable  ratio 
to  interest  or  to  profits.  Moreover,  the  value  of  the  product 
is  uncertain,  it  is  not  always  commensurate  with  the  quan- 
tity of  the  product.  Production,  therefore,  cannot  be  taken 
as  the  measure  of  wages. 

The  mule-spinner  who  spins  ten  thousand  times  as  much 
yarn  as  her  great-grandmother  did  with  the  spinning-wheel, 
receives  more  pay  than  her  great-grandmother  received,  but 
not  ten  thousand  times  as  much.  When  an  entrepreneur 
sets  up  a  cotton  mill  he  does  not  say:  a  hundred  years  ago 
a  woman  could  spin  5  hanks  of  yarn  a  day  on  the  spinning- 
wheel;  the  workman  who  minds  two  self-acting  mules  can 
spin  55,000  hanks  to-day:  I  will  give  him  and  his  two  help- 
ers ten  thousand  times  as  much  as  they  used  to  receive. 
What  he  really  does  is  to  ascertain  the  customary  rate  of 
wages  in  the  locality,  calculate  what  his  product  will  prob- 
ably be  with  the  machinery  he  has,  and  estimate  what  this 
product  will  bring  on  the  open  market.  Then  if  he  de- 
cides that  he  can  manufacture  at  a  profit,  he  offers  the  cus- 
tomary wages,  confident  that  workmen  will  respond.  If 
he  believes  that  his  machinery  is  superior  enough  to  enable 
him  to  produce  at  a  lower  cost  than  his  competitors,  he  may 
offer  a  little  more  than  the  ordinary  rate  in  order  to  attrac: 
the  best  workmen.  In  this  way  wages  rise  as  productivity 
increases.  But  the  increase  of  wages  is  not  necessarily  pro- 
portional to  the  increase  of  product. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  wages  of  spinners  have  risen  in  the 
last  fifty  years.  But  the  value  of  yarn  has  fallen  in  a  much 
greater  ratio  and  it  is  the  consumer  who  has  received  the 
greatest  benefit.  It  is  well  to  remember,  however,  that  the 
laboring  class  forms  a  most  important  part  of  the  body  of 
consumers.  It  is  now  more  than  thirty  years  since  I  first 
attempted  to  clear  up  this  economic  phenomenon  in  a  pub- 
lished lecture  on  the  Role  of  Intelligence  in  Production. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  373 

At  the  time  when  few  laborers  understood  the  working  of 
machines,  good  mechanics  made  higher  wages  than  at  pres- 
ent, when  this  species  of  skill  is  common,  yet  they  do  as 
much  work  as  they  ever  did.  The  reason  is  that  an  increase 
in  the  productivity  of  labor  affects  wages  in  several  ways. 
At  first  it  usually  increases  both  wages  and  profits,  because 
better  results  are  secured  with  the  same  amount  of  effort 
and  there  is  a  larger  income  to  divide.  But  under  the  in- 
fluence of  competition  prices  soon  fall  and  wages  and  profits 
are  reduced  to  the  ordinary  level.  Wages,  however,  are  sel- 
dom reduced  to  the  point  from  which  they  started. 

The  productivity  of  machinery  (which  is  one  cause,  in 
fact  the  principal  cause,  of  the  productivity  of  labor)  also 
affects  wages  in  diverse  ways.  If  before  the  invention  of 
the  machine  the  commodity  was  difficult  to  manufacture,  it 
was  necessary  to  employ  skilled  labor  at  relatively  high 
wages.  If  the  machine  makes  the  work  easy,  ordinary  lab- 
orers can  be  substituted  for  the  skilled  workmen,  and  aver- 
age wages  fall  in  the  occupation  in  question.  This  process 
has  often  been  noticed  in  the  United  States;  in  nearly  all 
manufactures  in  which  new  machinery  has  been  introduced 
or  the  old  machinery  greatly  improved,  the  workmen  com- 
plain with  more  or  less  justice  against  the  displacement  of 
the  laborer  by  machinery;  it  is  one  of  the  grave  questions 
raised  by  the  progress  of  invention.  It  may  happen  then, 
in  America  as  in  Europe,  that  the  wages  of  the  laborer  de- 
crease while  the  quality  of  what  he  produces  improves,  and 
its  quantity  increases.  We  have  cited  at  least  a  few  in- 
stances in  which  the  facts  are  contrary  to  the  law  that 
wages  bear  a  fixed  ratio  to  the  product. 

We  may  cite  one  or  two  other  illustrations  which  go  to 
prove  that  even  the  value  realized  by  the  sale  of  the  product 
is  not  a  reliable  measure  of  the  rate  of  wages.  The  prices 
of  farm  products  have  sensibly  decreased  in  the  United 
States  since  1879,  tne  Year  ^n  which  the  European  demand 
for  cereals  was  so  heavy:  the  average  price  of  wheat,  for 


374  The  American  Laborer 

instance,  was  54  cents  in  1893  as  against  $1.10  in  1879. 
Taking  the  prices  of  1872  as  standard,  represented  by  100, 
Mr.  Powers  has  calculated  that  the  prices  of  vegetable  and 
animal  products  in  the  Mississippi  valley  would  be  repre- 
sented by  124  in  1879  and  106  in  1891-94;  and  in  the  North 
Atlantic  and  Central  States  by  96  in  1879  an<^  83  in  1891- 
94.  In  1892  the  farmer  received  much  less  for  the  same 
quantity  of  products  than  in  1879,  although  he  paid  his 
hands,  on  an  average  of  the  whole  United  States,  $16.42  a 
month  in  1879  and  $16.80  a  month  in  1892.  Some  other 
cause  than  increased  productivity  must  be  found  to  explain 
this  rise  in  wages.  In  certain  industries,  to  choose  another 
kind  of  example,  men  have  been  replaced  by  women  who 
do  the  same  work  for  less  wages.  Here  again  productivity 
fails  as  a  measure  of  wages. 

A  study  of  the  facts,  then,  discredits  the  absolute  theory 
that  would  make  this  cause  the  sole  regulator  of  wages.1' 
Yet  it  may  confidently  be  repeated  that  productivity  is  one 
of  the  principal  causes  of  the  high  wages  which  characterize 
America.  As  I  have  shown  by  numerous  examples,  idling 
is  almost  unknown  in  American  shops  and  factories;  the 
laborer  works  energetically,  and  the  machinery,  while  it  en- 
ables him  to  produce  more  than  the  laborer  of  any  other 
country,  England  excepted,  requires  of  him  more  attention 
and  greater  activity. 

Two  important  consequences  follow  which  should  be 
clearly  noted.  First,  there  is  no  fixed  relation  between 
the  rate  of  wages  and  the  cost  of  production.  Second,  the 
cost  of  production   and  the   selling  price — the  important 

14  Among  the  American  theories  is  that  of  Henry  George: 
"  Wages  depend  upon  the  margin  of  production,  or  upon  the  pro- 
duce which  labor  can  obtain  at  the  highest  point  of  natural  pro- 
ductiveness open  to  it  without  the  payment  of  rent."  I  mention 
this  in  a  footnote  because  it  cannot  be  advanced  as  a  determinative 
cause  of  wages  in  civilized  countries.  For  a  criticism  of  its  validity 
I  may  refer  the  reader  to  the  chapter  on  "Henry  George's  Theory" 
in  Mr.  Gunton's  Wealth  and  Progress.  See  also  L'Ouzrier  Amerieain, 
pt.  iii,  ch.  vii. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  375 

fact  for  the  consumer — are  not  necessarily  proportional, 
and  although  under  a  regime  of  free  competition  the  two 
tend  to  approach,  the  actual  divergence  has  a  very  wide 
range. 

Wages  constitute  one  element  in  the  expenses  of  produc- 
tion. In  those  industries  in  which  the  products  are  made 
chiefly  by  hand,  they  form  the  predominant  element;  this 
explains  why  the  cost  of  building,  for  instance,  has  increased 
so  much  in  the  United  States.  But  in  the  industries  in 
which  machinery,  or  in  general,  in  the  industries  in  which 
capital  is  more  important  than  labor,  wages  and  the  cost  of 
production  cften  display  opposite  tendencies;  wages  may 
rise  as  the  value  of  the  product  falls.  This  divergence,  well 
illustrated  in  the  textile  industries,  constitutes  that  "  eco- 
nomic paradox  "  which  is  one  of  the  happiest  consequences 
of  industrial  progress. 

Only  one  other  aspect  of  this  question  can  be  noticed 
here:  does  the  product  of  the  laborer  furnish  a  just  measure 
of  the  remuneration  due  him?  The  common  laborer  who 
with  pick  and  shovel  removes  iooo  cubic  feet  of  earth  in  a 
day,  toils  far  harder  and  accomplishes  much  less  than  the 
man  who  runs  a  steam-dredge.  Can  the  dredger,  who  suffers 
less  fatigue  and  is  not  necessarily  more  intelligent  or  more 
industrious  than  the  laborer,  rightfully  demand  a  greater 
wage  than  the  laborer?  He  may  obtain,  and  it  is  desirable 
that  he  should  obtain,  a  higher  wage;  but  he  is  not  robbed 
if  he  fails  to  obtain  it.  As  all  the  superiority  lies  in  the  ma- 
chine, equity  would  demand  that  the  surplus  should  revert 
to  the  man  who  really  created  it,  the  inventor.  This  is  what 
actually  happens,  in  part  at  least,  immediately  after  the  in- 
vention of  the  machine.  But  when  the  invention  has  be- 
come common  property,  this  surplus  falls  to  the  general 
treasury  of  industrial  art  and  the  whole  world  profits  by  the 
fall  of  price.  And  this  is  the  "  role  of  intelligence  in  pro- 
duction." 

Cost  of  living. — The  cost  of  living,  which  I  shall  treat  at 


376  The  American  Laborer 

greater  length  in  the  second  part  of  this  work,1"  is  another 
cause  of  prime  importance  in  the  determination  of  wages. 
The  workingman's  family  has  but  one  fund  to  live  upon — 
that  secured  from  labor — but  there  is  an  immense  difference 
in  the  livings  secured  by  different  laborers  and  it  is  plain 
that  the  cost  of  living  is  without  limits,  either  inferior  or 
superior.10  From  the  cost  of  living  of  the  steel-roller  who 
makes  $10  a  day,  down  to  that  of  the  sweat-shop  tailor  who 
is  reduced  to  $i  or  less,  there  is  a  long  series  descending 
from  affluence  to  misery.  "  The  American  lives  on  all  sorts 
of  wages,"  a  laborer  of  French  extraction  said  to  me. 

The  Hindu  carpenter  or  mason  who  makes  8  annas  (less 
than  25  cents)  a  day,17  or  the  Japanese  workmen  who  aver- 
age about  20  or  25  cents  a  day  do  not  live  of  course  like  the 
New  York  mason  who  receives  $4  a  day. 

There  does  exist  in  each  stage  of  wealth  and  civilization  a 
kind  of  minimum  wage,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  express  by 
a  concrete  sum  of  money  either  what  it  is  or  what  it  should 
be.  It  would  be  impossible  to  frame  a  general  law  on  this 
subject.  Local  custom,  based  upon  the  prevailing  state  of 
wealth,  affords  the  best  indication  of  what  it  is. 

Mr.  Gunton  has  given  a  clear  account  of  the  theory  which 
makes  the  standard  of  living  "  the  economic  law  of  wages."18 
By  the  standard  of  living,  or  to  be  more  exact,  by  "  the  so- 
cially accepted  standard  of  living,"  Mr.  Gunton  understands 
the  ordinary  state  of  material  comfort  and  social  refinement 
which  is  required  in  the  social  class  to  which  one  belongs.1* 
With  great  ingenuity  and  completeness  he  assimilates  labor 
to  ordinary  commodities,  and  after  having  shown  that  com- 

15  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  pt.  ii. 

16  See  F.  A.  Walker,  The  Wages  Question,  ch.  vii,  "  Necessary 
Wages." 

'  Estimating  the  silver  at  its  par  value.  The  carpenters  working 
on  the  canals  in  Arissa  received  from  5  to  7  annas  a  day  in  1892. 
In  other  places  they  received  on  an  average  15  rupees  (less  than 
$7-50)  a  month.     See  Prices  and  Wages  in  India,  Calcutta,  1893. 

1S  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  96.  1B  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  88. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  377 

petition  forces  the  price  of  a  commodity  down  to  the  cost  of 
production  of  the  most  expensive  portion  necessary  for  con- 
sumption, he  concludes  that  the  price  of  labor  also  tends  to 
approach  the  cost  of  maintenance,  not  of  an  isolated  labor- 
er, but  of  the  most  expensive  family  whose  labor  is  required 
in  production.  Mr.  Gunton  adds  as  a  corollary  that  the  so- 
called  "  iron  law  "  is  a  fallacy  because  in  every  class  of  labor 
it  is  those  who  live  best  and  not  those  who  live  cheapest, 
who,  by  their  cost  of  maintenance,  determine  the  rate  ol 
wages.  It  is  the  Ricardian  theory  of  rent  applied  to  wages. 
Those  families  whose  cost  is  highest  are  always  on  the 
border-line  of  want,  but  those  whose  cost  is  lower  enjoy  a 
surplus. 

The  author  of  this  theory  thinks  that  it,  and  it  only,  ex- 
plains the  differences  among  the  wages  of  the  Hindu,  the 
German,  and  the  American,  the  city  workman  and  the  farm 
laborer.  The  theory  really  throws  a  good  deal  of  light  upon 
one  side  of  the  problem,  but  is  it  the  cost  of  living  which 
makes  the  wages  of  the  farm  laborer  greater  in  summer 
than  in  winter,  when  his  need  is  greatest? 

Basing  their  argument  upon  certain  statements  of  Ricardo 
and  other  economists  who  hold  that  wages  tend  to  sink  to 
the  minimum  of  existence,  the  laborers  of  the  United  States, 
as  a  class,  accept  the  "  standard  of  living  " 20  as  the  true  de- 
terminative cause  of  wages.  Demand,  they  argue,  deter- 
mines production ;  and  as  the  wage-earning  class,  because  of 
its  numbers,  is  the  most  important  factor  in  demand,  high 
wages  form  the  most  powerful  stimulus  that  can  be  applied 

20  As  Mr.  Gunton  clearly  explains  {Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  96), 
there  is  a  sharp  distinction  between  "  cost  of  living  "  and  "  standard 
of  living."  The  standard  consists  of  the  sum  of  commodities  or 
the  quantum  of  satisfaction  procured  by  the  representative  person 
or  group  of  persons  of  any  social  class.  The  cost  is  the  total 
price  of  this  quantum  of  satisfaction.  If  prices  fall,  the  cost  of 
living  decreases  without  having  any  effect  upon  the  standard  of 
living.  Vice  versa,  the  standard  may  change  without  affecting  the 
cost.  There  are  also  other  differences.  See  L'Ottvrier  Americain, 
pt.  ii,  ch.  vi. 


378  The  American  Laborer 

to  industry.  Large  consumption  in  the  families  of  the  work- 
ing people,  necessitates  high  wages  and  in  consequence  is 
a  cause  of  general  prosperity.  "  Wages  have  been  and  will 
be  regulated  by  existing  conditions  of  living,  and  whatever 
tends  to  raise  '  the  standard  of  decency  and  comfort '  will 
inevitably  affect  the  standard  of  wages.  Therefore,21  the 
great  problem  is  not  so  much  to  increase  production  in  an 
overstocked  market  as  to  increase  consumption  and  thus 
enlarge  the  demand."  2i  In  these  words  one  of  the  mouth- 
pieces of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  Mr.  Lemuel 
Danryid,  expresses  himself  in  a  pamphlet  designed  for  the 
instruction  of  working  people. 

Another  of  their  pamphleteers  propounds  the  question: 
"  Why  does  a  wage-worker  receive  more  where  the  cost  or 
standard  of  living  is  high  than  he  does  in  a  place  where  the 
cost  or  standard  is  low?"     He  answers: 

"  Because  in  one  place  the  cost  or  standard  is  high  and  in  the 
other  it  is  low.  This  is  the  great  law.  The  standard  of  living 
affects  wages.  It  is  true  that  in  some  places  and  at  times  wages 
are  advanced  beyond  the  standard  of  living,  but  such  an  advance 
is  necessarily  brief  in  duration,  and  proves  the  rule  by  wages  soon 
falling  to  the  standard  of  life,  but  if  the  standard  of  life  reaches 
to  the  level  of  wages  the  wages  remain  fixed. 

"  Question. — What  affects  the  standard  of  life? 

"  Answer. — As  a  rule,  in  all  countries  and  in  all  times  the  de- 
mand for  higher  or  more  wages  is  consequent  upon  the  increased 

21  "  As  wages  are  governed  by  the  standard  of  living,  and  the 
standard  of  living  is  governed  by  the  social  wants  of  the  laborer 
.  .  .  ."  reasons  a  third  publicist,  Mr.  George  Gunton,  in  The 
Economic  and  Social  Importance  of  the  Eight-Hour  Movement  (Publica- 
tion of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  Eight-Hour  Series,  No.  2), 
p.  11.  In  his  book  Wealth  and  Progress  (p.  6),  Mr.  Gunton  attrib- 
utes to  Ira  Steward  the  first  enunciation  of  the  theory  that  the 
standard  of  living  is  the  basis  of  wages.  "  Accordingly,  while  the 
central  thought  presented  in  this  book  belongs  to  Ira  Steward, 
its  development  and  presentation  is  the  work  of  the  present  writer. 
By  the  central  thought,  I  mean  the  idea  that  the  standard  of 
living  is  the  basis  of  wages  and  that  social  opportunity  or  more 
leisure  for  the  masses,  as  expressed  in  less  hours  of  labor,  is  the 
natural  means  for  increasing  wages  and  promoting  progress." 

22  History  and  Philosophy  of  the  Eight-Hour  Movement  (Eight-Hour 
Scries,  No.  3),  p.  9. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  379 

pressure  of  new  wants  created.  If  a  man  has  learned  to  read  and 
is  surrounded  by  reading  men  he  will  want  to  read,  and  will  de- 
mand such  wages  as  will  enable  him  to  satisfy  this  want.  If  there 
was  no  such  day  as  the  Sabbath  or  rest-day,  and  all  wage-workers 
were  employed  the  seven  days  of  the  week,  not  only  would  wages 
not  be  advanced,  but  they  would  be  reduced,  because  the  present 
wants  of  Sunday  would  be  lost.  .  .  . 

"  Hovel  life  gives  hovel  wages;  tenement-house  life  gives  tene- 
ment-house wages;  shabby  clothes  give  shabby  wages;  good 
clothes,  good  eating,  good  homes  mean  good  wages;  you  cannot 
have  the  best  till  you  want  the  best."  ** 

In  support  of  his  argument  the  author  cites  garbled  ex- 
tracts from  economists  whom  he  believes  share  his  opinions, 
and  it  is  a  fact,  moreover,  that  there  are  distinguished 
American  economists  who  profess  this  doctrine.  The 
author  concludes  this  popular  catechism  by  saying  that  the 
most  powerful  human  incentive  is  the  desire  of  men  to  im- 
prove their  conditions;  that  organization  is  the  surest  means 
of  accomplishing  this  end;  that  leisure  creates  wants,  hence 
men  must  secure  leisure;  that  time  is  money,  hence  the 
laborer  should  make  every  effort  to  obtain  the  most  money 
for  his  time  or  at  least  to  give  the  least  possible  time  for  the 
money  he  receives. 

The  reason  why  women  so  often  sell  their  labor  for  less 
than  it  is  worth,  the  labor  party  maintain,  is  because  they 
usually  do  not  have  to  support  themselves  entirely  by  their 
own  earnings.  This  is  partly  true,  and  the  argument  is  very 
specious  because  of  this  fact.  But  the  general  theory  is 
based  upon  an  incomplete  survey  of  the  facts.  As  with 
those  economists  who  make  productivity  the  sole  regulator 
of  wages,  so  with  the  labor  party:  their  theory  is  much  too 
rigid. 

The  labor  party  abuses  the  doctrine  of  the  cost  of  living 
by  trying  to  prove  that  the  laborer  is  paid  in  proportion  to 
his  need,  whatever  that  may  be,  and  that  to  obtain  higher 
wages  he  must  increase  his  wants.     The  socialists,  such  as 


38  Geo.   E.   McNeill,   The  Eight-Hour  Primer  {Eight-Hour  Series, 
No.  i),  pp.  II,  12. 


380  The  American  Laborer 

Lasalle  and  Marx,  abuse  the  doctrine  in  an  opposite  way,  by 
asserting  that  wages  have  an  inevitable  tendency  to  descend 
to  the  lowest  possible  minimum  cost  of  living.  It  is  this 
perversion  of  the  doctrine  that  the  labor  party  calls  the 
"  iron  law  of  wages." 

The  real  law  is  less  rigid  than  both  parties  suppose.  Eco- 
nomic science,  fortified  by  facts,  explains  the  antinomy  by 
showing  that  the  minimum  is  not  a  fixed  plane  but  a  shift- 
ing level  which  varies  considerably  as  the  state  of  civiliza- 
tion changes.  And  at  present  the  American  minimum  is  at 
a  very  high  level. 

The  standard  of  life,  that  sum  of  wants  which  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  satisfy,  exercises  an  undoubted  influence  upon 
wages,  but  in  the  direction  of  maintaining,  not  in  the  direc- 
tion of  elevating,  them.  Nor  is  this  standard  to  be  fixed  at 
the  arbitrary  pleasure  of  its  beneficiaries;  it  is  originally  an 
effect,  not  a  cause  of  wages,  and  it  continues  to  be  more  an 
effect  than  a  cause.24  As  effect,  it  is  determined  by  the  gen- 
eral state  of  wealth  and  the  productivity  of  labor  in  the 
country  in  question:  it  is  a  direct  result  of  the  rate  of  wages 
itself,  the  laborer  conforming  his  mode  of  living  to  his  in- 
come. As  cause,  it  prevents  the  laborer  from  accepting 
under  ordinary  circumstances  a  rate  of  wages  lower  than 
that  customarily  paid  in  his  trade,  because  this  rate  corre- 
sponds to  the  mode  of  living  of  people  in  his  walk  of  life. 

Expenditure  follows  income.  A  New  York  compositor 
would  be  in  sore  straits  if  he  had  to  regulate  his  expenditures 
according  to  the  income  of  a  cotton  weaver  at  Nashua. 
Both  in  France  and  America  the  needs  and  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing of  the  laborer  have  changed  since  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. When  the  wages  of  workingmen  have  once  risen  and 
their  wants  and  satisfaction  have  become  adjusted  to  a 
higher  plane,  it  is  exceedingly  painful  for  them,  as  for  other 

"  It  is  evident,"  says  Leroy-Beaulieu,  "  that  the  resources  of 
the  workman  determine  his  style  of  living,  and  not  the  style  of 
living  his  resources."  Traite  Theorique  et  Pratique  d'Economie 
Politique,  ii,  261. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  381 

people,  to  accommodate  themselves  to  a  lower  plane;  they 
make  every  effort  to  avoid  the  change.  This  gives  rise  to 
one  species  of  the  strike  which  I  have  illustrated  several 
times. 

Custom,  acting  as  a  preservative  agent,  may  maintain  the 
level  for  a  time.  Nevertheless,  as  it  is  better  to  eke  out  a 
bare  existence  than  not  to  exist  at  all,  the  workman  after 
having  made  what  resistance  he  can  with  the  assistance  of 
custom,  ends  by  yielding  to  the  pressure  of  necessity.  When 
an  industry  deserts  a  place,  for  instance,  the  workmen  often 
have  no  choice  but  to  emigrate  or  starve. 

I  quote  an  instructive  anecdote  upon  this  point  from  the 
Blair  Report: 

"  In  1842,"  said  a  witness  from  Massachusetts,  "  the  mills  had  to 
stop.  Mine  was  a  small  mill,  but  it  will  perhaps  illustrate  what 
others  had  to  do  as  well  as  any  illustration  that  I  can  give.  I 
found  that  I  could  not  run  the  mill  and  hold  my  own.  I  had  not 
capital  enough  to  run  through  and  afford  to  lose  anything.  I 
sent  to  my  help  and  asked  them  whether,  if  I  could  manage  to 
run  the  mill  through  the  winter,  they  would  be  willing  to  work 
for  less  wages,  and  they  said  no.  One  man  said  he  had  a  family 
of  five  or  six  children,  and  he  said  he  would  take  his  family  to  the 
poor-house  before  he  would  work  for  less.  I  said  very  well,  I 
would  not  run  the  mill.  I  shut  it  up  and  went  home,  myself  and 
my  wife,  and  stayed  there  through  the  winter  with  my  father. 

"  In  the  spring  I  went  back  and  found  that  these  people  had  been 
idle  through  the  winter.  I  went  into  the  mill  building  and  lit  a  fire 
and  the  smoke  began  to  curl  up  and  go  off  through  the  chimney, 
and  it  was  seen  throughout  the  neighborhood,  and  they  all  came 
flocking  to  the  mill  to  inquire  if  I  were  going  to  start.  Among 
the  others  who  came  to  make  that  inquiry  was  the  man  who  said 
he  wouldn't  work  for  less  than  his  own  price.  When  he  said, 
'Are  you  going  to  start?'  I  said,  'I  don't  know.'  'For  God's 
sake,'  he  said,  '  start  this  mill  and  give  us  just  what  you  can  afford 
to  pay  for  our  work.'  Said  he,  '  I  have  had  no  work  through  the 
winter,  except  occasionally  a  job  at  chopping  wood  at  50  cents  a 
cord,  and  I  couldn't  do  more  than  one  cord  a  day,  and  with  that 
50  cents  I  have  got  Indian  meal  to  feed  my  family  on.'  I  said  to 
him,  '  I  told  you  last  fall  it  would  be  hard  for  you,  and  you  said 
you  would  rather  go  to  the  poor-house.'  '  Well,'  said  he,  '  I  was 
mistaken,  and  I  am  willing  to  go  to  work  now.'  When  help  find 
that  they  cannot  do  any  better,  and  learn  that  they  have  to  go  to 
work  for  a  certain  price  or  get  nothing,  they  will  go  to  work."  : 

25  Labor  and  Capital,  iii,  289. 
26 


382  The  American  Laborer 

Competition. — The  competition  among  laborers  for  work, 
and  that  among  employers  for  workmen,  must  be  placed 
among  the  most  important  elements  in  the  determination  of 
wages:  properly  speaking  they  constitute  the  demand  and 
supply  of  which  we  have  spoken.  In  this  connection  Amer- 
ican workmen  labor  under  a  peculiar  disadvantage:  that  of 
immigration.  Every  year  from  200,000  to  600,000  immi- 
grants arrive,  swelling  the  supply  of  labor  and  creating  a 
competition  which  is  unusually  disagreeable  because  the  im- 
migrants come  from  countries  where  wages  are  low,  and 
consequently  have  an  inferior  standard  of  life.  They  con- 
stitute a  reservoir  of  cheap  labor  which  is  never  exhausted 
because  it  is  continually  being  replenished. 

The  effect  of  immigration  is  particularly  felt  in  the  Eas- 
tern States,  where  the  immigrants  disembark.  This  is  cer- 
tainly one  reason,  though  not  the  only  one,  why  wages  are 
higher  in  the  West  than  in  the  wealthy  manufacturing  States 
of  the  East.  American  workmen  feel  it  keenly.  Hence  the 
hatred  and  exclusion  of  the  Chinese,  the  universal  distrust 
manifested  towards  Italians  and  Russian  Jews,  the  efforts  of 
the  labor  party  to  restrict  immigration  by  law,  and  the  sup- 
port given  to  this  policy  by  the  Populist  party. 

Of  the  laws  which  restrict  immigration,  some  are  justi- 
fiable from  the  standpoint  of  ethics,  ethers  are  to  be  con- 
demned in  the  name  of  liberty.  It  is  true  that  the  tariff 
takes  but  scant  account  of  the  principle  of  liberty,  and  that 
the  laws  which  exclude  wheat  or  cloth  with  the  purpose  of 
increasing  the  rent  of  the  landlord  or  of  swelling  the  profits 
of  the  entrepreneur,  are  less  excusable  than  those  which 
turn  back  the  immigrant  to  protect  the  welfare  of  the  native 
laborer.  But  no  law  of  this  nature  is  inspired  by  the  feeling 
of  equity.  They  are  dictated  by  a  preponderant  political  in- 
fluence or  by  the  selfish  interests  of  a  majority. 

Labor  is,  in  general,  more  mobile  in  America  than  in 
France.  When  the  laborer  has  a  chance  of  obtaining  better 
wages  in  another  place,  he  moves  there,  changing  his  resi- 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  383 

dence  and  even  his  trade  with  great  facility.  This  mobility 
is  certainly  a  great  advantage  as  it  tends  to  make  wages 
equivalent  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  General  Walker  held 
that  it  not  only  tended  to  equalize  wages,  but  that  it  served 
to  elevate  the  general  level.20  I  share  the  opinion  that  it 
helps  to  maintain  the  level,  as  it  tends  to  drain  off  an  excess 
of  labor  from  points  where  a  superabundance  would  other- 
wise depress  wages. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  American  laborer  there  is  another 
form  of  competition  to  be  met:  that  arising  from  machinery. 
The  machine  is  a  competitor  without  doubt.  When  it  enters 
the  factory  there  is  a  practical  certainty  that  several  work- 
men will  go  out  and  that  they  will  have  no  chance  of  re- 
turning until  consumption  has  been  sufficiently  increased. 
American  laborers  are  in  consequence  very  apprehensive, 
the  employment  of  machinery  being  so  widespread  there. 
But  we  have  seen  that  the  machine  is  an  ally  as  well  as  a 
competitor,  inasmuch  as  it  increases  the  productivity  of 
labor.  The  American  laborer,  though  somewhat  uneasy 
about  the  matter,  recognizes  that  the  machine  is  necessary. 

Another  opposing  force  is  found  in  the  concentration  of 
industry  which  facilitates  concerted  action  and  diminishes 
competition  among  employers.  Professor  Marshall  has 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  labor  is  now  bought  in 
gross,  instead  of  at  retail,  as  it  used  to  be.  Formerly  there 
was  a  multitude  of  small  manufactures  in  which  the  mas- 
ters were  almost  as  numerous  as  the  workmen.  But  in  the 
large  manufactures  of  the  present  the  employer  commands 
a  much  greater  labor  force,  and  finds  it  much  easier  to  dic- 
tate conditions.  We  have  seen  how  rapidly  concentration 
is  progressing  in  the  United  States. 

The  workmen  endeavor  to  counteract  this  influence  with 
that  of  their  unions.  These  unions  concentrate  and  restrain 
the  supply  of  labor  by  uniting  a  multitude  of  isolated  com- 
petitors in  a  body  which  acts  as  a  unit  in  the  labor  market. 

26  See  The  Wages  Question,  pt.  i.  ch.  iv  and  x. 


384  The  American  Laborer 

In  America  these  organizations  perform  their  offices  openly; 
they  are  contrary  neither  to  law  nor  to  general  opinion. 
The  courts  have  not  penalized  striking  per  sc  for  many  years; 
they  punish  only  specific  acts  of  violence.  As  moderation 
in  the  use  of  one's  own  rights  and  respect  for  the  rights  of 
others  are  difficult  to  maintain  in  a  state  of  freedom,  indus- 
trial disputes  of  great  violence  occur  in  the  United  States. 
In  certain  branches  of  industry,  the  building  trades  for  in- 
stance, the  workmen  have  become  masters  of  the  situation 
to  a  large  degree  and  often  dictate  terms  to  the  employers, 
the  result  being  an  increased  cost  of  building.  In  the  manu- 
factures on  the  other  hand,  the  employers  are  strong  enough 
to  control  the  union  workmen  and  in  some  instances  to  de- 
bar them  altogether,  or  at  least,  to  refuse  to  treat  with  the 
unions. 

An  investigation  of  the  results  accomplished  in  Europe 
and  America  during  the  last  fifteen  years  leaves  the  student 
convinced  that  the  labor-organization  has  become  a  power 
in  the  industrial  world,  and  that  by  strikes  or  amicable 
agreements  this  power — which  is  largely  the  result  of  union 
— has  exercised  a  notable  influence  in  elevating  and  main- 
taining wages  and  upon  other  conditions  of  the  wage-con- 
tract. In  those  industries  in  which  they  have  become  an 
important  factor,  the  unions  have  succeeded  in  modifying 
somewhat  the  distribution  of  wealth,  but  they  do  not  in- 
crease the  sum  total  of  wealth.  On  the  contrary  their  dis- 
turbances may  retard  production.  Moreover  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  believe  all  the  publicists  of  the  labor  party  tell  us 
about  the  omnipotence  of  the  labor-union.  Wages  may  go 
up  without  the  slightest  action  on  their  part,  as  is  clearly 
shown  in  the  movement  of  the  wages  of  domestic  servants 
and  farm  laborers. 

The  union  can  make  wages  high  and  maintain  them  only 
by  increasing  the  productivity  of  labor  and  the  general 
wealth  of  the  country.  If  their  strikes,  which  constitute  an 
attack  upon  this  wealth,  increase  in  numbers  and  animosity, 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  385 

they  will  drive  capital  into  hiding  and  discourage  the  spirit 
of  enterprise.  In  this  event,  wages  must  fall.  It  does  not 
seem  probable,  however,  that  these  conditions  will  be  ful- 
filled. 

Prof.  Laughlin,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  American 
economists,  has  advanced  the  theory  that  labor-unions  per- 
vert the  natural  course  of  wages  by  exerting  an  undue  pres- 
sure upon  the  market  in  the  direction  of  enhancing  the 
wages  of  their  own  members  and  depressing  the  wages  of 
non-unionists  whose  natural  outlet  is  closed  by  their  ex- 
clusiveness.  "  The  strikers  gain  at  the  expense  of  other 
workmen."  The  theory,  though  open  to  discussion,  is  partly 
true.  But  it  will  not  turn  a  single  union  from  its  attempts  at 
monopoly,  because  in  the  conflict  of  interests  each  individual 
or  group  of  individuals,  whatever  theory  it  may  hold,  looks 
to  its  own  interests,  perfectly  sure,  in  most  cases,  that  its 
cause  is  the  cause  of  the  profession,  and  by  extension,  the 
cause  of  humanity. 

The  laws  which  regulate,  with  great  benefit  in  certain 
cases,  the  length  of  the  working-day  or  the  labor  of  women 
and  children,  restrain  competition  and  the  labor  party  is 
correct  when  it  maintains  that  they  tend  to  increase  the 
hourly  rate  of  wages."  The  assertion  that  such  laws  will 
not  diminish  the  wage  for  the  working-day,  abridged  in  this 
way,  nor  interfere  with  the  accomplishment  of  certain  kinds 
of  work,  is  more  doubtful,  however. 

The  wage-fund  and  trade-capital. — The  old  theory  of  the 
wage-fund,  suggested  by  Adam  Smith,  developed  by  Ri- 
cardo,  and  defended  by  John  Stuart  Mill,  assumes  the  exist- 
ence of  a  fixed  sum  of  capital  set  aside  for  the  remuneration 
of  a  fixed  number  of  laborers.  If  these  two  factors  did  not 
change,  wages  would  be  maintained  at  a  fixed  level;  if  one 
class  of  laborers  secured  an  advance  of  wages,  the  increase 

27  Upon  this  question,  see  the  article  of  Mr.  Beardsley  in  the 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics  for  July,  1895.  Mr.  Beardsley's 
article  contains  some  very  sound  and  some  very  doubtful  proposi- 
tions. 


386  The  American  Laborer 

would  have  to  be  taken  from  the  fixed  fund  and  in  conse- 
quence the  wages  of  the  remainder  would  undergo  a  propor- 
tional decrease;  if  the  number  of  laborers  increased,  wages 
would  fall  in  proportion  to  the  increase.  In  America  sev- 
eral distinguished  economists  have  accepted  the  theory,  in 
the  bare  form  just  outlined,  or  with  slight  modifications. 
Others  have  shown  it  to  be  inadequate"" — an  insufficient 
reason,  it  may  be  noted,  for  rejecting  it  in  toto. 

We  may  admit  that  in  no  country  is  there  a  fixed  sum  of 
capital  set  aside  in  a  special  fund  and  reserved  for  the  pay- 
ment of  laborers.  But  it  is  very  plain  that  the  man  who  em- 
ploys laborers  must  have  buildings,  machinery,  raw  ma- 
terial, and  that  for  this,  fixed  and  circulating  capital  is  re- 
quired; that  before  the  product  is  bought  and  paid  for  it  is 
almost  always  necessary  to  pay  the  wages  of  the  workmen, 
which  makes  it  necessary  to  have  a  fund  of  circulating  capi- 
tal. It  is  this  which  has  been  called  the  wage-fund.  As  a 
rule  wages  are  advanced  from  capital.  But  even  in  those 
industries,  railroads  for  example,  in  which  the  entrepreneur 
receives  the  price  of  the  service  before  paying  the  wages  of 
the  employee,  the  capital  fixed  in  road-bed  and  rolling- 
stock  must  have  been  advanced.  During  the  first  half  of 
the  present  century  farm  hands  were  paid  off  only  once  or 
twice  a  year  in  certain  sections  of  the  United  States.  Even 
in  this  case  the  farmer  had  to  possess  a  certain  working 
capital.  The  more  abundant  capital  is,  however  it  may  be 
employed,  the  greater  is  the  demand  for  labor  and  the  higher 
are  the  wages  of  the  workman.     This  also  must  be  admitted. 

Prof.  Simon  Newcomb  has  given  a  very  keen  analysis  of 
the  wages  question  in  his  book  A  Plain  Man's  Talk  on  the 
Labor  Question'"'  "  Suppose,  then,"  he  says,  "  that  the  fac- 
tory is  compelled  to  pay  higher  wages.  Then  it  must  either 
lessen  its  force  or  it  must  charge  a  higher  price  for  its  pro- 

28  See  inter  alia  The  Wages  Question,  by  F.  A.  Walker,  pt.  i.  ch.  ix; 
and  Traite  Economique  et  Pratique,  by  Paul  Leroy-Beaulieu,  ii,  261. 
28  Page  158. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  387 

ducts.  In  the  latter  case  it  will  be  bad  for  everybody  who 
has  to  buy  cloth,  especially  for  laborers.  In  fact,  the 
chances  are  that  fewer  people  will  buy  the  cloth,  and  thus 
the  result  will  be,  in  the  end,  a  diminution  of  production. 
What  is  true  of  this  factory  is  true  all  the  way  through  so- 
ciety. All  ether  conditions  being  the  same,  one  class  can- 
not get  an  increase  in  money  wages  except  at  the  expense 
of  other  classes."  A  general  increase  of  wages  would  neces- 
sarily result  in  an  increase  in  the  price  of  everything,  if  pro- 
duction remained  the  same. 

I  have  taken  occasion  once  before  to  remark  that  this  ar- 
gument makes  no  impression  upon  the  laborer  who,  like  any 
other  vendor  of  goods,  tries  to  get  the  highest  possible  price 
for  his  stock  in  trade.  The  attention  of  the  laborer  is  fixed 
upon  the  distribution  cf  the  product.  Whatever  the  latter 
may  be,  either  in  quantity  or  value,  he  demands  a  larger 
share  for  himself  and  smaller  shares  for  the  entrepreneur 
and  the  capitalist,  and  sees  no  reason  why  the  new  arrange- 
ment should  not  continue  indefinitely,  other  things  being 
equal,  since  he  is  familiar  with  instances  in  which  the  cost 
of  raw  material  has  increased  without  producing  a  corre- 
sponding advance  in  prices.  As  Prof.  Newcomb  claims,  if 
a  universal  advance  of  wages  suddenly  takes  place,  unac- 
companied by  an  increase  in  production,  prices  must  rise. 
But  the  hypothesis  is  gratuitous;  there  is  no  magic  wand 
at  whose  touch  wages  rise  en  bloc;  those  laborers  who  ob- 
tain the  first  advance  reap  a  real  advantage  and  each  one 
tries  to  be  among  the  first.  If  the  advance  in  wages  is  de- 
ducted from  the  shares  of  the  other  two  agents,  a  simple  re- 
distribution occurs,  consumption  is  not  increased  and  pro- 
duction consequently  is  unchanged.  But  if  production  is 
increased,  either  in  quantity  or  value,  essential  differences 
are  introduced;  the  share  of  one  agent  may  be  enlarged 
without  encroaching  upon  those  of  his  collaborators;  there 
is  more  wealth,  the  agent  who  makes  more  can  spend  more, 
and  by  stimulating  production  may  call  forth  an  entirely 
new  increase  of  wealth  in  other  industries. 


388  The  American  Laborer 

Production  and  consumption. — One  other  factor  must  be 
taken  into  account.  The  quicker  the  production  and  con- 
sumption of  products,  the  more  rapidly  capital  is  renewed. 
A  given  amount  of  circulating  capital  that  is  rapidly  re- 
placed will  command  more  labor,  pay  more  wages  and,  by 
increasing  the  demand,  pay  higher  wages,  than  an  equal 
amount  that  is  turned  over  less  frequently. 

The  wage-earner  himself  is  an  important  element  in  this 
process  of  renewal.  By  the  employment  of  his  wages  in 
consumption  he  is  incessantly  returning  to  capital  a  part  of 
that  which  capital  paid  him;  he  accelerates  the  circulation.30 
This  phenomenon  is  well  illustrated  in  the  United  States. 
Compared  with  certain  countries  of  Europe  the  amount  of 
accumulated  capital  is  relatively  small  perhaps,  but  the  con- 
sumption is  large  and  capital  boldly  and  quickly  launched 
in  industrial  enterprises. 

The  United  States  to-day  are  comparatively  wealthy  be- 
cause they  have  experienced,  thanks  to  the  natural  richness 
of  the  soil  and  the  activity  of  the  people,  an  almost  uninter- 
rupted economic  development  in  every  direction.  This  de- 
velopment has  engendered  a  demand  for  labor  that  grows 
greater  every  day  and  has  sustained  production  by  a  con- 
sumption which  is  superior  to  that  of  Europe. 

Recapitulation. — It  is  a  mistake  to  attempt  to  explain 
wages  by  any  single  cause,  except  supply  and  demand  which 
comprehends  all  causes.  The  attempt  invariably  results  in 
one  of  two  things:  we  either  violate  certain  facts  by  forcing 
them  into  conformity  with  our  formula,  or  allow  them  to 
escape  by  proposing  a  formula  which  in  order  to  be  simple 
becomes  too  narrow. 


"  If  production  furnishes  the  measure  of  wages,  then  the  wages 
class  is  entitled  to  the  immediate  benefit  of  every  improvement  in 
science  and  art,  every  discovery  of  resources  in  nature,  every  ad- 
vance in  their  own  industrial  character.  Surely  it  is  not  a  small 
matter  that  the  laborer  should  find  a  measure  of  his  wages  in  the 
present  and  the  future,  rather  than  in  the  past."  Here,  in  brief, 
is  the  whole  theory  of  General  Walker.  See  The  Wages  Question. 
P-  44- 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  389 

Many  economists  have  made  this  mistake.  Like  the  pur- 
suit of  absolute  truth  in  general,  it  is  very  seductive.  But 
the  penalties  are  many.  Such  a  law  not  only  invites  criti- 
cism because  of  its  inconsistency,  but  it  brings  the  whole 
science  into  disrepute.  I  would  place  the  science  beyond 
the  reach  of  such  criticism  by  proposing  the  more  moderate 
formula:  Wages  are  determined  by  complex  causes,31  which 
act  diversely  upon  supply  and  demand,  and  thus  fix  the  rate 
peculiar  to  each  industry  and  each  individual;  from  these 
separate  rates  the  statistician  attempts  to  deduce  the  general 
average  rate  of  the  country.  These  causes  are:  productivity, 
which  is  the  principal  agent  in  the  graduation  of  wages  ac- 
cording to  the  merit  of  the  workman  and  which  must  be 
credited  with  the  greatest  share  in  the  general  elevation  of 
wages  which  has  taken  place  in  the  nineteenth  century;  com- 
petition, which  from  the  laborer's  standpoint  is  affected  dis- 
advantageously  by  immigration,  advantageously  by  the  de- 
velopment of  industry,  and  in  opposite  directions  by  the 
association  of  employers  and  the  organization  of  wage- 
earners;  cost  of  living,  which,  though  a  result  of  wages,  in 
turn  assists  the  laborers  to  resist  reduction  and  tends  to 
maintain  his  income  at  the  point  required  by  his  mode  of 
living;  industrial-capital,  fixed  or  circulating  (the  last  practi- 
cally coinciding  with  the  wage-fund),  whose  influence  varies 
in  accordance  with  its  quantity  and  its  rapidity  of  circula- 
tion; activity  of  production  and  the  general  state  of  wealth, 
which  exercises  a  general  influence  upon  the  rate  of  wages; 
consumption,  which  animates  and  directs  production. 

The  wages  of  domestics  are  not  paid  from  the  same  fund 


31  In  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Economics,  July,  1895,  P-  452.  ^r- 
Charles  Beardsley  correctly  says:  "According  to  the  theory  that 
wages  are  limited  by  capital,  wages  might  rise  if  capital  increased. 
According  to  the  doctrine  that  wages  depend  on  product,  wages 
may  rise  if  the  product  increases.  Both  theories  ignore  the  fact 
that  a  change  in  the  volume  of  the  national  dividend  may  be 
accompanied  by  a  readjustment  of  the  relative  proportions  of  the 
shares  in  distribution.  .  .  ." 


300  The  American  Laborer 

as  those  of  industrial  laborers.  The  wages  of  the  latter  de- 
pend, in  main,  upon  the  value  of  the  product,  those  of  the 
former  upon  the  income  of  the  master.  If  the  workmen  de- 
mand and  obtain  double  wages  in  a  factory  that  was  just 
paying  expenses  before  the  advance,  the  firm  will  soon  go 
to  pieces.  If  a  household  servant  demands  twice  as  much 
pay,  the  employer  may  discharge  the  servant  or  pay  the  ad- 
vance if  he  is  able;  but  in  either  event  the  family  will  con- 
tinue to  exist. 

All  these  forces  are  at  work  in  every  country  in  which  the 
wage-contract  is  free.3"  But  many  of  them  act  with  greater 
intensity  in  America,  a  new  country,  than  in  Europe.  Of 
the  forces  making  for  low  wages,  immigration  may  be  cited : 
among  those  making  for  high  wages  are  the  circulation  of 
wealth,  which  is  very  rapid  in  America,  and  the  productivity 
of  labor  and  the  standard  of  living,  which  are  both  higher  in 
America  than  in  Europe. 

In  the  study  of  wages  in  America  two  facts  are  particu- 
larly noticeable:  the  increase  in  the  volume  of  wages  during 
the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  the  elevation 
of  the  average  rate  of  wages,  which  is  higher  than  in  any 
other  country.  The  former  phenomenon  is  common  to 
Europe  and  America;  the  second  is  the  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  American  wages.  The  principal  causes  of  the 
latter  phenomenon  are:  first,  the  progress  and  the  increasing 
productivity  of  industry;  second,  the  uninterrupted  settle- 
ment, appropriation,  and  cultivation  of  the  soil  in  the  last 
hundred  years,  and  the  continuous  development  of  trans- 
portation facilities,  manufactures,  and  the  national  consump- 
tion ;  third,  the  great  increase  of  wealth  and  in  particular  the 
rise  in  the  value  of  land  and  mining  property.  Other  causes 
are  found  in  the  organization  of  labor,  the  democratic  spirit 

32  French  economists  for  the  most  part  admit  this  complexity  in 
the  causes  which  determine  wages.  See.  among  others,  Beaure- 
gard, Essai  sur  la  Theorie  du  Salaire;  E.  Chevallier,  Les  Salaires  au 
XIXe  Siecle;  Leroy-Beaulieu,  Traite  Theorique  ct  Pratique  de  V Econo- 
mic Politique;  Maurice  Block,  Les  Progres  de  la  Science  Economique. 


Factors  Determining  Nominal  Wages  391 

of  the  American  people,  and  the  ease  with  which  land  is 
acquired  and  a  fair  income  secured  by  its  cultivation.  The 
progress  of  industry  is  not  peculiar  to  America.  But  the 
productivity  of  the  laborer  is  greater  than  in  Europe,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  England,  because  employers  sup- 
ply their  workmen  with  the  most  improved  tools  and  ma- 
chinery which  the  workmen  are  intelligent  and  energetic 
enough  to  use  to  advantage.  The  same  statement  cannot 
be  made  of  the  workmen  of  all  countries.  And  yet  a  large 
proportion  of  the  immigrants,  after  they  have  been  brought 
under  the  influence  of  the  same  environment,  gradually  ac- 
quire this  characteristic.  Except  in  Switzerland  the  senti- 
ment of  equality  is  nowhere  so  general  as  in  the  United 
States.  This  feeling  emboldens  the  laborer  in  the  defense 
of  his  rights  and  at  the  same  time  preserves  him  against 
revolutionary  excess.  It  has  also  been  favorable  to  the 
formation  of  labor-unions  which  in  turn  have  served  to 
keep  wages  high. 

Mode  of  payment. — The  wage-problem  is  often  compli- 
cated by  secondary  causes.  Wages  may  be  paid  in  money 
or  in  kind.  In  the  United  States  wages  were  formerly  paid 
partly  in  money  and  partly  in  food  products,  and  the  custom 
is  still  preserved  in  some  places.  This  system  may  be  justi- 
fied in  some  cases  by  the  scarcity  of  money,  but  it  makes  the 
value  of  the  wage  uncertain,  leaves  the  laborer  less  freedom, 
and  becomes  detrimental  to  him  when  the  employer  charges 
an  extortionate  profit  upon  the  commodities  with  which  he 
pays  oft'. 

Wages  may  be  paid  at  short  or  long  intervals.  For  a 
long  time,  in  certain  parts  of  the  United  States,  it  was  the 
custom  to  pay  off  only  once  a  year,  the  workmen  being  vir- 
tually bound  to  their  employers,  and  the  wages  subject  to  a 
certain  time-discount.  Since  money  has  become  plentiful 
and  the  labor-unions  powerful,  the  more  normal  course  has 
been  generally  adopted,  of  paying  once  a  week  or  twice  a 
month.  Weekly  or  bi-weekly  payments  are  vigorously  de- 
manded by  the  unions. 


392  The  American  Laborer 

Wages  may  be  paid  in  good  or  in  depreciated  money. 
The  payment  in  depreciated  money  is  misleading,  as  the 
workman  nominally  receives  a  larger  wage  than  before  the 
depreciation,  and  in  many  cases  he  is  deceived  by  the  change. 
As  prices  are  higher  he  is  really  no  better  off,  and  usu- 
ally is  worse  off,  because  the  rise  in  wages  ordinarily  comes 
a  good  deal  later  than  the  rise  in  prices.  The  Americans 
received  strong  proof  of  this  during  the  paper  money  regime 
which  existed  during  and  after  the  Civil  War.  The  illusion 
produced  by  the  high  wages  of  this  period  is  responsible  for 
an  error  of  judgment  that  is  frequently  made  by  American 
workmen,  who  often  affirm  that  wages  have  fallen  because 
they  see  in  statistical  tables  that  money  wages  were  greater 
before  than  after  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  in 
some  occupations,  greater  than  to-day.  They  would  avoid 
this  error  if  they  would  take  the  trouble  to  compare  money 
wages  with  the  cost  of  living  during  that  period. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
REAL  WAGES  AND  WORKMEN'S  BUDGETS 


Real  and  nominal  zuagcs.—Oi  the  two  forms  in  which 
wages  are  presented — as  a  sum  of  money,  and  as  the  quan- 
tity of  ordinary  consumables  purchasable  with  this  sum — 
the  former  alone  is  capable  of  fairly  exact  quantitative  in- 
vestigation. Even  in  the  study  of  nominal  wages  it  is  easy 
to  go  astray.  The  amount  of  lost  time  complicates  the 
problem;  the  great  diversity  of  wages,  as  we  have  pointed 
out  above,  prevents  the  calculation  of  a  real  average;  and 
when  part  of  the  wage  is  paid  in  kind  it  is  almost  impossible 
to  avoid  mistakes.  Real  wages  on  the  other  hand  are  essen- 
tially indeterminate.  The  form  and  extent  of  consumption 
vary  in  accordance  with  the  country  and  the  time,  and  at 
the  same  time  and  place,  in  accordance  with  the  income  and 
habits  of  individual  families.  The  sum  of  money  that  the 
workman  receives  may  be  calculated  from  the  books  and 
the  pay-rolls  of  industrial  establishments.  But  this  tells  us 
nothing  about  the  use  he  makes  of  the  money.  Nominal 
wages  may  constitute  an  essential  datum  in  forming  a  judg- 
ment of  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  but  they  sup- 
ply only  the  first  term  of  the  equation.  Real  wages,  which 
imply  a  knowledge  of  the  purchasing  power  of  money,  con- 
stitute the  final  result.  If  nominal  wages  are  the  same  in 
two  countries,  but  prices  twice  as  high  in  the  first  as  in  the 
second,  real  wages  are  only  half  as  great  in  the  first  country, 
and  the  working  classes  are  far  less  prosperous. 

Whether  or  not  the  laborer  manages  to  live  upon  his 
wages  and  keep  out  of  debt,  is  a  question  which  I  am  often 
called  upon  to  answer,  in  relation  both  to  France  and  the 


394  The  American  Laborer 

United  States.  I  answer  that  the  receipts  and  expenditures 
of  the  laboring  class,  considered  as  a  class,  necessarily  bal- 
ance in  every  country  of  the  world. 

There  are  publicists  who  make  a  point  of  quoting  statis- 
tics or  writing  papers  to  show  that  the  average  working- 
man  does  not  live  within  his  income.  They  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  finding  illustrations.  When  they  present  these  in 
good  form  they  render  a  service  to  science;  they  supply  cer- 
tain colors  which  must  be  used  in  painting  the  true  picture 
of  social  conditions.  But  they  are  mistaken  when  they 
claim  that  these  should  form  the  predominant  tone  of  the 
whole  canvas.  That  there  are  laborers  who  fail  to  make 
ends  meet  is  no  justification  of  the  statement  that  the  whole 
laboring  class  is  in  debt.1  A  little  reflection  shows  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  so  numerous  a  class  to  live  in  a 
condition  of  permanent  insolvency.  This  would  mean  that 
the  laboring  class  was  living,  in  part  at  least,  upon  the  earn- 
ings of  the  other  classes,  and  one  cannot  imagine  a  free 
society  in  which  millions  of  men  are  supported  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  minority.  The  laboring  classes  then  are  self-sup- 
porting. The  important  question,  however,  is  not  whether, 
but  in  what  manner,  each  class  supports  itself. 

The  increase  of  comfort  and  the  social  power  of  money. — To 
fully  understand  the  condition  of  the  laborer  it  is  necessary 
to  know  something  more  than  his  real  wages — that  is  to 
say,  the  quantity  of  commodities  his  earnings  will  command. 
We  must  know  how  effectively  he  spends  his  wages,  and 
what  his  family  is  accustomed  to  consume. 

Wants  are  not  the  same  in  all  times  and  places;  they  differ 
in  cold  and  warm  climates,  in  rich  and  poor  countries,  in 
different  states  of  civilization.  It  is  plain,  for  example,  that 
seventy  years  ago  our  fathers  felt  little  need  of  riding  on 
railroads.     Wants  are  aroused  by  the  possibility  of  satisfac- 

1  In  Connecticut  in  1888  it  was  found  that  out  of  611  families  of 
workmen.  352  earned  more,  and  259  earned  less  than  enough  to 
pay  expenses. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  395 

tion.  For  many  years  I  have  insisted  upon  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  social  pozver  and  the  commercial  or  purchasing 
power  of  money.  The  latter,  like  real  wages,  depends  upon 
the  quantity  of  commodities  which  may  be  secured,  the  for- 
mer upon  the  social  position  that  may  be  maintained,  with  a 
given  amount  of  money. 

Whether  prices  have  fallen,  or  what  is  the  same  thing, 
whether  the  purchasing  power  of  money  has  risen,  is  open 
to  debate.  But  there  is  no  disputing  the  fact  that  in  all 
classes  of  society  in  Europe  and  America  more  money  is 
now  spent  in  maintaining  social  position  than  was  the  case 
fifty  years  ago.  The  laborer  is  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
New  wants  have  arisen  and  have  so  fastened  themselves 
upon  us  that  every  man  would  think  himself  disgraced  if  he 
did  not  make  place  for  them  in  his  budget.  As  a  conse- 
quence the  social  power  of  money  has  diminished,  since  it 
is  necessary  to  spend  more  under  penalty  of  losing  caste. 

Prof.  Newcomb  has  borrowed  the  machinery  of  Dante  to 
illustrate  the  increase  of  comfort  among  the  working  classes. 
The  archangel  Michael  introduces  an  eighteenth-century 
farmer  into  the  household  of  a  present-day  laborer.  The 
old  countryman  marvels  at  seeing  paper  upon  the  walls,  the 
woodwork  painted,  the  chairs  easy  and  comfortable.  In 
one  room  he  sees  an  organ,  photographs  upon  the  mantel, 
lace  curtains;  in  another,  white  bread,  sugar,  china,  upon 
the  table;  in  a  closet  a  pile  of  snowy  linen.  On  the  second 
floor  he  finds  the  beds  covered  with  fine  spreads,  the  house- 
wife clothed  like  a  great  lady,  and  two  small  children  dressed 
like  fairies.  "  It  is  the  house  of  the  governor,"  says  the 
farmer.  "  No,"  responds  his  guide,  "  it  is  the  house  of  a 
bricklayer."  In  due  time  the  bricklayer  comes  home, 
changes  his  working  clothes,  and  sits  down  to  dinner, 
eating  raisins  from  the  Pacific  coast,  and  putting  lumps  of 
sugar  into  his  tea  without  so  much  as  counting  them.  The 
visitor  inquires  for  the  spinning  wheel,  and  is  greatly  sur- 
prised that  the  wife  does  nothing  but  attend  to  her  house- 
hold.    He  is  still  more  astonished  to  learn  that  the  brick- 


396  The  American  Laborer 

layer  is  not  satisfied  with  his  lot."  Prof.  Newcomb  does  not 
add  that  the  unsatisfied  ambition  of  the  bricklayer  is  as 
natural  as  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  old  farmer. 

It  would  be  foolish  to  concern  one's  self  about  this  change 
which  is  merely  a  state  of  increased  comfort  resulting  from 
the  general  growth  of  wealth.  But  it  is  important  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  two  properties  of  money,  because  with- 
out this  distinction  it  is  impossible  to  explain  the  sayings, 
originating  probably  with  emigrants  or  travellers,  which 
are  heard  everywhere  in  Europe:  "Living  is  very  dear  in 
the  United  States,"  and  "  The  workman  may  earn  more 
than  in  Europe,  but  it  costs  him  more  to  live." 

In  fact  the  laborer  does  spend  more  than  in  France.  But 
it  is  because  he  desires  to,  and  because  he  must  adjust  his 
life  to  a  higher  standard  of  living  in  order  not  to  be  looked 
down  upon  by  his  fellows. 

The  income  of  the  workman's  family. — This  is  usually  to 
be  ascertained  by  multiplying  the  daily  rate  of  wages  of  the 
workman  by  the  number  of  working  days  in  the  year,  allow- 
ance being  made  for  lost  time.  In  some  cases  the  earnings 
of  his  wife  and  children  must  be  added.  These  three  forms 
of  income  have  already  been  treated  separately.  We  have 
only  to  unite  them  in  order  to  gain  an  idea  of  the  family 
income.3 


2  A  Plain  Man's  Talk  on  the  Labor  Question,  p.  113,  ct  scq. 

3  See  ante,  ch.  v  and  vi,  and  LOuvrier  Americain,  ch.  x.  In 
those  chapters  it  was  pointed  out  that  nominal  wages  are  higher 
in  the  United  States  than  in  England.  To  the  evidence  given  in 
chapter  v  the  following  may  be  added.  In  1896,  Mr.  Kiaer,  official 
statistician  of  Norway,  made  a  careful  investigation  which  covered 
957  factory  operatives.  The  average  yearly  earnings  were  found 
to  be  from  600  to  1000  crowns  in  the  cities,  and  from  400  to  600  in 
the  country.  A  study  of  the  large  cooperative  societies  published 
in  the  United  States  in  1896  showed  that  the  employees  of  these 
associations  made  $609  on  an  average  in  America  and  $377  in 
England.  A  comparative  table  of  wages  prepared  by  a  factory 
inspector  of  Russia  shows  that  weavers  made  60  rubles  per  month 
in  America,  35^  in  England,  15  in  Russia.  M.  Schulze-Gaevernitz. 
who  quotes  these  figures  (Circulaire  du  Musee  Social,  seric  A,  No.  12), 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  397 

The  bureau  of  labor  of  New  Jersey  from  an  investigation 
covering  319  families  of  workingmen  found  that  the  average 
family  was  composed  of  4.8  persons,  of  which  1.45  persons 
were  engaged  in  gainful  occupations,  i.  e.  in  every  second 
family  the  wife  or  one  child  was  at  work.  The  average  total 
income  per  family  was  $680,  of  which  the  husband  brought 
in  87  per  cent  or  $594. 

The  higher  the  wages  of  the  husband  the  less  frequently 
does  the  wife  accept  outside  employment.  This  was  clearly 
shown  in  the  investigation  made  by  Dr.  Gould,  in  which  it 
was  found  that  among  the  higher  classes  of  laborers  the 
husband  earned  89  per  cent  of  the  entire  income,  while 
among  coal  miners  the  proportion  brought  in  by  the  hus- 
band was  only  77.5  per  cent.  In  the  cotton  industry,  in 
which  wages  are  low,  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of  the 
United  States  has  ascertained  that  in  a  mean  income  of 
$657  (based  upon  1934  families)  $400  or  about  60  per  cent 
were  earned  by  the  husband;  that  in  1081  households  the 
children  earned  $390,  and  in  332  families  the  wife  earned 
$182,  on  an  average.4  In  the  woolen  industry  it  was  found 
that  in  each  100  families,  95  men,  28  children,  and  9  women 
worked  in  the  factories. 

Mr.  Gunton  holds  that  the  factory  hand  is  paid  less  than 
the  bricklayer  or  the  mason  because  of  the  very  fact  that  the 

says  that  wages  are  low  in  Russia  because  the  workman,  as  a  rule, 
does  not  support  his  family,  which  remains  in  the  village  at  the 
expense  of  the  mir.  He  adds  that  the  condition  of  the  laborer  is 
very  humble:  he  works  from  12  to  15  hours  in  the  government 
textile  factories  at  Wladimir,  and  12  hours  (a  night  and  a  day  shift) 
in  the  government  spinning  mills  at  Moscow.  He  is  frequently 
fined,  irregularly  paid,  subjected  to  a  very  oppressive  truck  system, 
and  sometimes  cuffed  and  beaten.  We  have  here  a  good  illustra- 
tion of  the  relation  which  exists  betweeen  the  material  and  moral 
condition  of  the  workman. 

4  In  one  group  of  911  families,  867  men,  82  women,  and  260 
children  worked.  In  New  Jersey  an  investigation  of  85  families 
showed  85  men,  1  woman,  and  no  children  at  work.  In  this  study 
it  was  estimated  that  in  every  100  families  there  were  22  women  in 
France,  and  10  in  Great  Britain,  engaged  in  outside  employment. 
This  estimate  is,  however,  based  on  a  small  number  of  cases. 
27 


398 


The  American  Laborer 


wife  of  the  former  usually  works  in  the  mills  and  thus  con- 
tributes to  the  "  cost  of  living  "  or  the  expense  of  maintain- 
ing the  family.  This  explains,  he  asserts,  why  among  work- 
men employed  in  the  building  trades  there  is  only  one  per- 
son (excluding  the  husband)  in  every  four  families  who 
contributes  to  the  family  income,  while  among  factory  op- 
eratives there  are  1%  persons  (besides  the  man)  per  family 
who  contribute  to  the  family  expenses.  This  is  also  the 
reason  why  in  the  former  class  the  man  contributes  97  per 
cent  to  the  support  of  the  family,  while  among  factory  opera- 
tives this  proportion  is  only  66  per  cent.5  In  my  opinion 
Mr.  Gunton  confuses  cause  and  effect:  the  wife  would  not 


6  The  table  quoted  by  Mr.  Gunton  in  support  of  his  theory  is 
instructive  enough  to  warrant  reproduction  here.  It  is  taken  from 
the  sixth  report  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau.  (Wealth  a>id 
Progress,  p.  171.) 


Trades. 


8 

60-3 

a  s 

>>o 

In 

_  c  tc 
c£-S 

1-1  S3  S 

■asd 

£<m2 

s. 5 

0  0  « 

O  OVi 

to 

fe 

H 

&H 

$752 

4% 

u 

$69 

$821 

739 

VA 

X 

91 

830 

721 

4K 

X 

73 

794 

630 

5M 

K 

105 

735 

540 

4% 

1 

209 

749 

458 

5K 

u 

256 

714 

572 

5 

1 

250 

822 

386 

6% 

IK 

284 

670 

433 

5ft 

1A 

232 

665 

424 

6% 

iH 

258 

682 

Shop  trades 

Metal-workers 

Building  trades 

Teamsters 

Shoe  and  leather  trade. 
Metal-workers'  laborers 

Mill  operatives 

Mill  laborers 

Shop  laborers 

Outdoor  laborers 


$772 
723 
740 
729 
693 
698 
755 
639 
642 
651 


These  and  other  statistics  in  loc.  cit.  furnish  the  following  table 

of  proportions  of  the  family  income  earned  by  the  father  in  the 
several  occupations  and  places  noted: 

Building 91  per  cent. 

Iron 89 

New  Jersey 87 

Coal  mines 77.5 

Boot  and  shoe 72 

Textiles 69 

Cotton 60 

Laborers  (textile  industries) 57 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  31)9 

go  out  to  work  unless  the  earnings  of  the  husband  were  in- 
sufficient to  pay  the  family  expenses.  Suppose  for  instance 
that  the  wife  and  children  of  every  day-laborer  who  made 
more  than  $1.25  a  day  were  prohibited  from  working.  No 
diminution  of  day-laborers  would  ensue,  and  in  consequence 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  their  wages  would  rise. 
The  laborer's  family  would  simply  have  less  to  spend. 

The  average  total  revenue  of  the  workman's  family  from 
all  sources,  as  given  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor 
in  its  seventh  annual  report,  is  $657  in  the  cotton  manu- 
facture, $663  in  the  woolen  manufacture,"  $559  in  blast  fur- 
naces, $784  in  iron  works,  $663  in  steel  works,  $550  in  coal 
mines,  $572  in  the  coke  manufacture,  $401  in  iron  mines.7 
A  recent  study  made  in  Wisconsin  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  preceding  figures  are  a  little  too  high.  Only  3.2  per 
cent  of  the  families  investigated  enjoyed  an  income  of  $600 
or  more,  while  51.6  per  cent  lived  on  less  than  $400." 

Certain  statistics  have  been  given  which  go  to  show  that 
the  average  deduction  which  must  be  made  for  lost  time  is 
about  10  per  cent  under  ordinary  circumstances.  This  esti- 
mate is  corroborated  by  a  recent  investigation  in  Massa- 
chusetts which  showed  that  the  average  yearly  earnings  in 
4003  establishments  were  $436,  or  just  about  ten  per  cent 
less  than  the  amount  obtained  by  multiplying  the  average 
daily  wage  by  the  number  of  working  days  in  the  year. 

The  principal  items  of  the  workman's  budget. — Food,  lodg- 
ing, and  clothing,  the  three  most  essential  items  of  the  work- 
man's budget  have  already  been  considered."  With  regard 
to  expenditures  the  difference  between  the  American  and  the 
European  laborer  is  one  of  degree  and  not  of  kind.  Insur- 
ance, for  instance,  is  of  secondary  importance,  ranking  with 
amusements    and    miscellaneous    expenses.     Provision    of 


9  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  1765. 

7  In  the  latter  industries  the  income  from  boarders  is  included. 
See  Sixth  Annual  Report,  p.  1356. 

8  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Wisconsin,  1895-96. 

9  See  LOuvrier  Americain,  pt.  ii,  ch.  i,  ii,  iii. 


400  The  American  Laborer 

this  nature  can  be  made  only  when  there  is  an  income  more 
than  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  absolute  necessities  of  ex- 
istence. Other  items  of  expense  appear,  increasing  in  num- 
ber with  the  size  of  the  income.  Wants  never  fail;  the  limit 
is  fixed  by  the  means  of  satisfaction. 

But  the  level  of  wages  is  high  in  America  and  in  most 
families  some  provision  against  future  want  is  made.  We 
have  seen  how  important  the  savings  bank,  the  labor-union, 
the  mutual  benefit  society,  and  the  life  insurance  company 
are  in  the  life  of  the  American  workman.10  A  laborer  often 
belongs  to  several  societies  of  this  kind  at  the  same  time. 
In  1883  a  Cambridge  printer  testifying  before  the  Blair 
Commission  said,  in  answer  to  a  question  of  the  chairman, 
that  he  belonged  to  the  International  Typographical  Union, 
the  Knights  of  Labor,  the  Central  Trades  and  Labor 
Union  of  Boston,  and  the  Massachusetts  Federation  of 
Trades.11  In  the  majority  of  American  families,  as  is  clearly 
shown  in  the  budgets  cited  in  this  and  preceding  chapters, 
a  certain  sum  is  devoted  to  insurance  of  some  kind.  I  in- 
sist upon  this  point  again  u  in  order  to  emphasize  my  de- 
nial of  the  opinion  that  the  American  workman  is  improvi- 
dent. Although  his  savings  often  take  the  form  of  semi- 
compulsory  dues  to  a  labor-union,  there  is  no  reason  either 
to  deny  the  fact  that  he  saves,  or  to  exaggerate  the  amount 
of  his  savings. 

The  lodge. — The  Americans  are  much  given  to  grouping 
themselves  into  societies  for  social  purposes  as  well  as  for 
mutual  benefit.  An  investigation  made  some  years  ago 
in  Massachusetts  brought  out  the  facts  that  in  19  cities  and 
in  214  rural  communities  there  were  107  clubs  and  131  se- 
cret societies — Masons,  Odd  Fellows  and  Knights  of  Honor 

10  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  pt.  ii,  ch.  v. 

11  Labor  and  Capital,  i,  47. 

"  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  pt.  ii,  ch.  v,  in  which  Prof.  Levasseur 
discusses  at  some  length  the  notion,  which  seems  to  be  prevalent 
in  Europe,  that  the  American  laborer  is  extravagant  and  improvi- 
dent.    [Tr.] 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  401 

being  the  most  numerous;  that  145  towns  had  organized 
conferences;  120  scientific  associations;  159  dancing  acade- 
mies exclusive  of  athletic  associations.  It  was  estimated 
that  in  the  cities  one  out  of  every  ^l/2  adults,  and  in  the 
rural  districts  one  out  of  every  5  adults  was  a  member  of 
some  society  of  this  kind.13 

Travel. — Like  other  Americans  the  laborer  moves  from 
place  to  place  with  great  facility;  the  cost  of  travel  is  an 
item  of  expense  which  cannot  be  neglected:  I  have  already 
noted  how  easily  he  changes  his  place  of  residence  to  obtain 
a  higher  wage.  Many  trades-unions  have  a  special  fund 
devoted  to  the  assistance  of  members  travelling  in  search  of 
work.  The  laborer  will  even  take  a  long  trip  to  attend  a 
meeting  of  his  lodge  or  a  Sunday  pic-nic.  A  great  por- 
tion of  the  laboring  classes  live  in  the  suburbs  or  country 
and  come  to  work  by  the  railroad  or  street  railway.  To 
this  class  car-fare  is  a  regular  expense  similar  to  an  increase 
of  rent.  In  New  York  a  family  in  very  moderate  circum- 
stances was  pointed  out  to  me  in  which  three  children  went 
to  school  every  day  in  the  street-cars  (5  cents  a  trip). 

One  of  the  workmen  in  a  manufactory  of  bronzes  in  New 
York  told  me  that  the  members  of  his  family  spent  at  least 
four  dollars  a  month  in  car-fare.  Fifteen  years  ago  the  work- 
men of  Boston  spent  $22  a  year  on  an  average  in  travel  of 
various  kinds."  It  is  natural  that  car-fare  should  be  a 
greater  item  in  large  cities  than  in  the  smaller  ones.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  the  annual  number  of  rides  on  street- 
railways  per  capita,  is  20  in  cities  of  from  20,000  to  30,000 
inhabitants,  and  80  in  cities  of  more  than  400,000  inhabi- 
tants." 

The  horse  and  carriage. — Although  the  European  traveller 
quickly  gets  accustomed  to  American  workmen  who  own 
their  own  homes,  containing  gas,  water,  and  sometimes  fur- 

18  Eleventh  Annual  Report  ....  Massachusetts,  1880. 

"  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  ....  Massachusetts,  p.  109. 

10  Rapport  des  Ouvriers  Delegues  a  I 'Exposition  de  Chicago,  p.  417. 


402  The  American  Laborer 

naces,  who  have  parlors  in  which  they  receive  visitors,  and 
who  talk,  read,  and  rest  on  Sundays,  he  may  be  more  sur- 
prised to  find  that  some  of  them  keep  carriages.  Such  cases 
are  not  rare  in  the  East,  and  they  are  very  common  in  the 
West  where  horses  are  cheap. 

The  nezvspaper  and  the  church. — The  workman  reads  the 
newspaper  as  everyone  else  does  in  America.  In  the  New 
York  street-cars  when  people  are  going  to  work  in  the 
morning  or  coming  home  in  the  evening,  more  than  half  of 
the  passengers  have  a  newspaper  in  their  hands.  Daily 
papers  cost  I  and  2  cents,  weekly  papers,  5  cents,  as  a  rule. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  enormous  development  of  the 
American  newspaper  in  the  last  forty  years  has  been  due  in 
part  to  the  laboring  classes.  In  1850  there  were  2526  peri- 
odical publications  in  the  United  States.  In  1890  there 
were  17,616,  of  which  12,721  were  weeklies.  The  weekly 
and  Sunday  papers  have  the  largest  circulation  as  the  people 
have  more  time  to  read  on  Sunday  than  on  any  other  day. 
According  to  the  census  of  1890  the  number  of  copies  print- 
ed in  1889  was  4,681,000,000. 

Religious  contributions  frequently  have  a  place  in  the 
budget  of  the  American  workman.  The  French  labor  dele- 
gates seemed  to  be  somewhat  astonished  at  this  fact  and 
tried  to  find  extenuating  circumstances  for  what  they  re- 
garded as  a  weakness.  The  reason  is  that  the  state  of  the 
public  mind  is  entirely  different  in  France  and  the  United 
States.  There  is  scepticism  and  indifference  in  the  United 
States,  but  no  systematic  opposition  to  religion,  and  in  par- 
ticular, no  anti-clerical  party,  with  the  exception  of  an  un- 
important body  of  revolutionary  socialists  of  whom  I  shall 
speak  later  on.16  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Americans  owe 
this  advantage  to  the  absolute  freedom  of  belief  and  the 
complete  absence  of  all  public  authority  over  the  exercise  of 
religion.  It  is  partly  due,  also,  to  the  diversity  of  Protest- 
ant sects.     From  the  narrowest  and  most  rigid  to  those 

18  See  L'Ouvrier  Amcricain,  pt.  iii,  ch.  vii. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  403 

which  represent  the  broadest  theism,  all  are  obliged  to  live 
together  in  peace  and  amity.  The  American  people  are 
not  irreligious,  and  have  little  taste  for  the  blatancy  of  athe- 
ism; and  in  this  respect  the  laborer  is  one  of  the  American 
people.17  The  young  people  as  a  rule  attach  themselves  to 
some  denomination,  though  not  necessarily  to  that  of  their 
parents.  In  this  matter  they  are  generally  allowed  to  take 
their  own  course.  They  usually  attend  Sunday-school 
also,  where  they  receive  a  certain  amount  of  general  in- 
struction and  social  pleasure  in  addition  to  the  regular  re- 
ligious training.  Prominent  features  of  the  Sunday-school 
are  the  "  pic-nics  "  and  the  "  social  unions." 

The  unmarried  workman. — As  the  wife  of  the  American 
workman  rarely  contributes  anything  to  the  family  income, 
the  advantage  of  the  unmarried  over  the  married  workman 
with  regard  to  the  adjustment  of  expenditure  to  income  is 
much  greater  in  America  than  in  Europe.  Statistics  show- 
ing that  unmarried  workmen  save  a  larger  portion  of  their 
savings,  are  common.  On  the  other  hand  the  unmarried 
workman  is  exposed  to  much  greater  temptation  to  spend: 
human  nature  is  the  same  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
In  the  senatorial  investigation  of  1883  a  typographer  said 
that  in  his  trade  the  average  unmarried  man  went  to  the 
theatre  at  least  once  a  week,  and  took  a  much  larger  part 
in  the  dinners  and  celebration  of  the  union. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  custom  of  sleeping  two  in  a 
room  which  is  very  common  among  unmarried  workmen. 
The  sexes  are  never  commingled  in  America,  although  this 
is  no  reason  for  believing  that  this  custom  is  especially 
favorable  to  morality.     Neither  is  the  widespread  custom  of 

17  An  investigation  covering  17,427  workmen  living  in  a  section 
of  the  country  in  which  Canadians  were  numerous,  shows  that  they 
were  divided  as  follows:  Catholics  7769;  Protestants  5854;  Jews 
369;  2309  had  no  religious  connection,  and  the  remainder  made  no 
report.  At  St.  Louis,  for  example,  one  notices  a  certain  religious 
indifference,  accompanied  by  a  relaxation  of  morals,  while  at  Provi- 
dence, Richmond,  and  other  places  the  religious  habits  are  strong. 


404  The  American  Laborer 

taking  boarders.  As  the  workman's  house  is  ordinarily  of 
good  size  and  the  rent  high,  he  often  ekes  out  his  income 
by  letting  a  room  to  an  unmarried  man  who  usually  eats  at 
his  table. 

Unmarried  workingwomen. — Single  women  frequently 
board  with  private  families,  but  in  this  case,  we  may  be- 
lieve, there  is  less  exposure  to  moral  dangers. 

The  following  numerical  conclusions  were  established  in 
the  investigation  of  workingwomen  in  large  cities  made  by 
the  Bureau  of  Labor  of  the  United  States:  out  of  17,427 
women  interrogated,  15,387  were  single;  1038  widowed,  745 
married,  and  257  divorced  or  separated.  Of  the  whole 
number  cited  14,918  lived  at  home,  893  in  boarding  and 
lodging  houses,  and  1616  boarded  in  private  families.  Of 
the  14,918  living  at  home  8754  gave  their  earnings  to  the 
general  support,  4267  paid  board,  701  received  their  board, 
1 196  lived  under  other  conditions.  9813  of  those  living  at 
home  assisted  in  the  housework,  5105  did  not  assist. 

A  special  investigation  made  by  the  Illinois  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics  1S  gives  very  similar  proportions :  out  of  the 
2919  single  women,  2100  lived  at  home,  and  710  boarded. 
Shop  girls  spend  a  third  more  on  dress  than  laboring  girls. 
Both  classes  save  little  and  spend  a  comparatively  large  pro- 
portion of  their  earnings  on  car-fare. 

In  general  the  single  woman  makes  and  spends  less  than 
the  single  man.  According  to  reports  on  workingwomen 
in  large  cities,  the  average  income  is  $335,  the  average  ex- 
penditures $286,  of  which  57  per  cent  is  for  food  and  lodg- 
ing and  28  per  cent  for  clothing.  For  the  first  two  items 
the  proportion  is  small;  the  proportion  devoted  to  dress  is 
large.  Both  facts  are  characteristic  of  the  budgets  of  young 
women. 

The  housewife. — In  many  households  the  husband  allows 
his  wife  a  fixed  sum  each  week  ($6  is  probably  near  the 
average  among  the  laboring  classes),  for  current  expenses. 

18  Seventh  Annual  Report. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  405 

If  she  keeps  a  boarder  she  has  in  addition  about  $5  a  week 
on  an  average;  and  if  she  has  two  boarders  she  can  get 
along  nicely  on  the  $16  thus  provided.  Among  those  who 
are  in  easy  circumstances,  skilled  mechanics  for  instance, 
the  wife  often  receives  an  extra  allowance  of  $3  or  $4  a 
week  for  personal  expenses. 

When  the  morning  duties  are  attended  to  and  while  her 
husband  is  still  at  work,  the  wife  often  idles  away  an  hour 
or  two  in  the  shops  or  before  the  shop-windows.  As  a  girl 
she  was  kept  at  school  longer  than  her  husband,  and  after 
her  marriage  she  finds  that  she  is  better  educated  than  her 
husband.  She  reads  a  good  deal,  and  it  is  not  an  unheard 
of  event  to  find  her  taking  lessons  in  French,  drawing,  or 
music.  In  fact  this  seems  to  have  become  a  sort  of  fad  in 
some  parts  of  the  country.  A  French  foreman  who  had 
spent  two  years  in  inspecting  American  factories  told  me 
that  he  had  heard  of  a  woman  fifty  years  old  who  was  taking 
lessons  on  the  piano  and  had  not  learned  to  do  anything 
more  than  run  the  scales.  He  was  personally  acquainted 
with  the  wives  of  other  workmen  who  had  been  taking  two 
French  lessons  a  week  at  one  dollar  a  lesson  for  three  years, 
and  still  knew  almost  nothing  about  French. 

In  his  testimony  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Edu- 
cation and  Labor  in  1883,  Mr.  Steinway,  the  piano-manu- 
facturer, said  that  a  man  could  live  comfortably,  though  not 
luxuriously,  on  $2  a  day  if  he  had  a  wife  worthy  of  the  name. 
Generally,  he  continued,  the  wife  has  no  household  train- 
ing, and  though  she  may  play  a  little  on  the  organ,  she 
does  not  know  how  to  cook,  and  allows  her  husband  to 
come  to  work  en  Monday  mornings  with  the  dirt  on  his 
clothes  that  he  got  there  the  preceding  Saturday." 

It  is  always  a  rash  proceeding  to  attempt  to  sketch  with 
a  few  strokes  the  character  of  a  nation,  because  humanity 
is  everywhere  the  same  and  everywhere  different.  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  the  American  housewife  among  her 


Labor  and  Capital,  i,  1112. 


406  The  American  Laborer 

many  excellent  qualities  does  not  include  that  of  economy. 
Nevertheless,  I  heard  a  very  different  opinion  maintained 
in  a  conversation  I  held  upon  this  subject  with  a  lady  and 
one  of  the  higher  employees  of  a  Long  Island  manufactory, 
who  were  both  familiar  with  the  working  classes  in  New 
York  and  Europe.  The  wife  of  the  American  laborer,  they 
told  me,  is  more  intelligent  than  the  wife  of  the  French 
laborer;  she  is  more  independent,  claims  a  position  of 
equality  with  her  husband,  and  if  the  latter  will  permit  her 
to  do  so,  gets  along  well  with  him.  When  they  disagree, 
however,  she  does  not  hesitate  to  seek  a  remedy  in  divorce. 
In  other  respects  she  does  not  introduce  trouble  into  the 
household  more  frequently  than  the  Frenchwoman.  Before 
marriage  she  is  accustomed  to  social  enjoyments,  and  after- 
wards she  preserves  these  habits  and  tastes.  At  night  her 
husband  usually  remains  at  home;  on  holidays,  husband 
and  wife  go  out  together  in  search  of  amusement.  She 
nurses  her  own  children  or  brings  them  up  by  the  bottle. 
She  is  very  orderly  as  a  rule,  and  insists  upon  her  hus- 
band's having  a  place  for  his  possessions  as  well.  Neither 
is  she  so  wasteful  of  food  as  has  been  claimed:  those  who 
allow  useful  odds  and  ends  to  find  their  way  to  the  garbage 
box  are  usually  foreigners  who  suddenly  find  themselves 
surrounded  by  comparative  abundance.  Because  she  is 
clever  at  making  over  old  dresses  or  beautifying  them  by 
the  skillful  application  of  a  ribbon  or  two,  she  is  accused 
of  being  extravagant  in  her  dress.  The  shop-girls  of  Paris, 
they  thought,  dress  much  more  gaily  than  those  of  New 
York.  When  the  American  woman  is  seen  rocking  in  an 
arm-chair  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  book  or  news- 
paper in  hand,  it  is  because  she  has  finished  her  work,  and 
not  because  she  is  lazy.  She  seldom  works  in  a  factory,  but 
very  often  accepts  a  place  in  a  store  at  $5  or  $6  a  week, 
or  becomes  a  typewriter,  private  secretary,  etc. 

Moral  and  intellectual  conditions. — In  my  investigation  of 
the  American  laborer  I  have  been  deeply  interested  in  the 
question  of  morality:  what  are  the  moral  results  of  the  great 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen  s  Budgets  407 

amount  of  freedom  accorded  to  American  children,  girls  as 
well  as  boys,  who  leave  home  at  an  early  age  and  in  later 
life  feel  no  obligation  to  support  indigent  parents  (though 
many  do  so);  whether  the  habit  of  flirtation  among  young 
people,  the  superior  education  of  American  women  and  the 
great  amount  of  leisure  they  enjoy,  exercise  an  appreciable 
influence  upon  the  relation  of  the  sexes;  these  are  questions 
of  the  gravest  import.  But  the  evidence  I  have  collected  is 
so  contradictory  that  it  seems  impossible  to  reach  definite 
conclusions  upon  these  points.  The  number  of  illegitimate 
births  furnishes  little  assistance:  illegitimate  births  are  sel- 
dom if  ever  recorded,  and  in  addition  they  do  not  furnish 
a  measure  of  the  irregularity  of  morals.'""  Neither  do  we 
find  much  assistance  in  statistics  and  studies  of  prostitution; 
the  class  of  prostitutes  is  chiefly  filled  by  servants  and  by 
women  who  have  never  exercised  any  other  trade;  the  work- 
ing class  properly  so-called  furnishes  only  a  small  contin- 
gent. 

I  have  heard  cruel  testimony  of  the  depth  of  immorality 
in  America,  and  on  the  other  hand  I  have  listened  to  wit- 
nesses who,  while  they  did  not  deny  the  existence  of  im- 
morality, painted  the  situation  in  far  different  colors.  But 
when  I  read  testimony  such  as  the  following  from  the  pen 
of  an  American  economist  who  has  made  a  personal  inves- 
tigation into  the  conditions  described,  I  am  less  reassured 
and  am  inclined  to  believe  that  the  difference  of  institu- 
tions modifies  exterior  appearances  more  than  depths  of 
human  nature.21 


20  Upon  this  question  see  La  Population  Frangaisc,  by  E.  Levas- 
seur,  vol.  ii,  ch.  viii,  xiv. 

21  "  I  am  told  by  one  who  ought  to  know,"  says  Professor  Ely, 
"  that  unchastity  is  to-day  a  more  crying  evil  among  them  than 
intemperance.  Girls  are  often  obliged  to  submit  to  insults,  to 
resent  which  involves  dismissal  and  loss  of  livelihood.  .  .  .  Fre- 
quently, they  are  started  on  the  downward  track  by  their  boss  or 
employer,  who  shows  them  favors  in  their  work,  for  which  they 
pay  with  their  virtue.  When  I  made  a  tour  of  personal  inspection 
of  industrial  centers  in  1885,  preparatory  to  the  preparation  of  this 


408  The  American  Laborer 

The  writer  who  speaks  of  the  American  laborer  is  apt  to 
be  asked  what  that  laborer  thinks.  In  this  country  and 
elsewhere  romances  have  been  written  in  which  a  picture  of 
the  laborer  is  presented:  the  author  has  seized  a  trait  here, 
one  there,  and  from  the  collection  of  characteristics  with  the 
assistance  of  his  imagination  has  attempted  to  paint  the 
laborer  as  he  is.  But  the  characteristics  which  strike  the 
attention  in  the  hurry  of  travel  are  often  the  abnormal  char- 
acteristics. The  romancer  might  accept  them  the  more 
willingly  because  they  throw  his  picture  into  relief,  but 
he  would  do  so  at  the  risk  of  presenting  an  exception  as  the 
type. 

Laborers  are  not  all  one  type :  like  other  people  they  have 
different  characters  and  different  customs.  They  are  less 
educated  than  the  bourgeois  class  as  a  rule,  although  in 
this  as  in  other  respects  the  difference  between  the  different 
classes  is  much  more  distinct  in  Europe  than  in  America. 
But  they  are  as  generous,  as  affectionate  toward  their 
family,  and  quite  as  capable  of  devoted  and  disinterested 
friendship  as  members  of  any  other  class.  There  are  mor- 
alists who  pretend,  with  insufficient  proof  however,  that  the 
last  quality  is  rare  among  the  laboring  class. 

Such  is  my  conception  of  the  American  laborer,  based 
largely  upon  what  I  know  of  my  own  country.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  have  penetrated  far  enough  into  American  family 
life  to  be  able  to  speak  with  authority  upon  this  subject. 
Moreover,  the  habits  of  life  and  manners  of  thought  are 
complicated  in  America  by  the  multiplicity  of  nationalities. 
A  skilled  mechanic  of  American  parentage,  for  instance,  is 
not  within  the  same  current  of  ideas  and  feelings  as  a  street- 
laborer  recently  arrived  from  Italy. 

book,  I  spent  a  few  days  in  a  city  of  less  than  thirty  thousand 
inhabitants  in  good  old  New  England,  where  I  was  told  that  as 
many  as  two  hundred  couples  live  together  outside  the  bonds  of 
wedlock.  It  was  something  so  common  that  it  did  not  involve  a 
loss  of  caste  in  the  laboring  population."  The  Labor  Movement  in 
America,  p.  320. 


Real  Wages  mid  Workmen's  Budgets  409 

The  laborer,  as  is  but  natural,  is  much  interested  in  social 
questions,  particularly  in  labor  problems,  and  this  explains 
why  he  is  so  often  led  into  socialism.22  But  it  would  be  a 
great  error  to  imagine  that  a  majority  of  the  laboring  class 
accept  the  doctrines  of  socialism.  The  employer  is  a  fre- 
quent subject  of  conversation  but  by  no  means  a  subject  of 
hatred.  The  note  of  eulogy  cannot  of  course  be  the  domi- 
nant note.  Human  nature  is  of  such  stuff  that  the  condi- 
tion of  subordination  and  the  friction  of  interests  frequently 
antagonistic,  engender  an  atmosphere  very  favorable  to 
criticism.  But  is  it  always  an  atmosphere  of  justice  and 
benevolence  in  which  employers  discuss  the  subject  of  em- 
ployees, or  their  wives  the  servant  question? 

The  connection  betzveen  prices  and  nominal  wages. — It  has 
been  demonstrated  that  during  the  last  fifty  years  nominal 
wages  have  greatly  increased  in  the  United  States  except 
in  a  few  branches  of  industry.  If  on  an  average  the  prices 
of  the  commodities  consumed  by  the  laborer  have  not 
changed  during  that  period,  real  wages  have  risen  in  the 
same  ratio  as  nominal  wages.  If  prices  have  risen  in  the 
same  ratio  as  nominal  wages,  real  wages  have  not  changed. 
If  prices  have  fallen,  real  wages  have  risen  more  than  nomi- 
nal wages.  Neither  of  the  first  two  conditions  has  been  ful- 
filled; it  is  the  third  which  has  the  strongest  basis  in  fact 
and  which  it  is  necessary  to  consider. 

In  1892  the  chief  of  the  New  York  labor  bureau  made 
an  investigation  of  this  subject,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
noted  that  since  1880  the  price  of  flour  had  decreased  about 
30  per  cent  and  the  price  of  sugar  50  per  cent,  that  meat 
and  coffee  had  become  dearer,  and  that  milk,  butter,  tea,  and 
cheese  were  cheaper  or  at  last  as  cheap  in  1892  as  in  1880. 
He  also  spoke  of  the  well-known  fact  that  the  retail  prices 
of  certain  goods  were  twice  as  much  as  the  wholesale  prices 
and  sometimes  more:  the  workman  has  certainly  not  been 
the  sole  beneficiary  of  the  fall  in  prices.     Rents,  he  added, 

21  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  pt.  iii,  ch.  vii. 


410  The  American  Laborer 

were  higher,  but  the  price  of  clothing  less.  He  concluded 
that,  on  the  whole,  living  had  become  cheaper.23 

Several  years  before,  the  Massachusetts  bureau  drew 
up  a  report  under  the  direction  of  Col.  Wright  upon 
the  variation  of  wages  and  prices  during  the  period  1830- 
1860.  The  prices  of  agricultural  products  had  increased 
62.8  per  cent,  illuminating  oil  29  per  cent,  dairy  products 

38.8  per  cent,  fish  9.8  per  cent,  flour  26  per  cent,  wood  (for 
fuel)  55.4  per  cent,  meat  53  per  cent.  Footwear  had  de- 
creased 38.9  per  cent,  clothing  24.7  per  cent,  novelty  goods 

39.9  per  cent,  food-products  (or  preparations)  17.5  per  cent, 
paper  35.1  per  cent,  spices  and  condiments  36.5  per  cent. 
Averaging  the  fourteen  groups,  prices  had  risen  about  13 
per  cent.  During  the  same  time  average  wages  had  risen 
52  per  cent." 

The  preceding  conclusions  are  confirmed  in  the  main  by 
the  Aldrich  reports  on  retail  and  wholesale  prices,  both  by 
the  comparison  between  1891  and  i860,  and  that  between 
1 891  and  1840.  According  to  the  report  on  wholesale 
prices  the  average  price  of  food-products  was  slightly  higher 
in  1891  than  in  i860  (103.9  m  l&9l>  the  price  of  i860  being 
represented  by  100).  This  increase  is  attributed  mainly  to 
the  rise  in  the  price  of  codfish,  about  200  per  cent.  Cheese, 
sugar,  fruits,  pork,  and  salt  beef  had  fallen  in  price;  cod- 
fish, mackerel,  coffee,  butter,  bacon,  eggs,  mutton,  and  beef 
had  risen.25     Building  materials  had  risen  22.  per  cent,  but 


28  Tenth  Annual  Report  ....  New  York,  1892. 

24  See  The  Industrial  Evolution,  p.  225. 

25  According  to  the  Aldrich  report  the  average  relative  price  of 
food  (that  of  i860  being  represented  by  100)  was  96.6  in  1840;  85.05 
in  1850;  153.8  in  1870;  107.6  in  1880,  and  104.6  in  1800.  [According 
to  Prof.  Falkner's  continuation  of  the  Aldrich  report,  the  average 
price  of  food  was  considerably  lower  in  1809  than  in  1890.  The 
relative  average  prices  of  the  food  group,  given  in  the  following 
table,  cannot  be  compared  directly  with  the  preceding  figures  taken 
frcm  the  Aldrich  report,  as  they  are  reckoned  upon  a  new  basis. 
But  they  do  show  the  course  of  prices  since  1800.  "  It  is  to  be 
noted,"  says  Prof.  Falkner,  "  that  in  the  general  upward  movement 


Real  Wages  mid  Workmen's  Budgets  411 

they  are  comparatively  unimportant  in  the  consumption  of 
the  laborer. 

Average  prices  had  fallen  in  five  of  the  seven  groups  of 
commodities  considered.  These  five  groups  were:  cloths 
and  clothing;  fuel  and  lighting;  metals  and  implements; 
drugs  and  chemicals;  house-furnishing  goods;  miscellane- 
ous commodities.  This  fall  of  prices,  I  repeat,  is  not  due, 
or  is  due  only  in  a  small  degree,  to  an  increase  in  the  value 
of  money  resulting  from  a  relative  scarcity  of  gold,  be- 
cause the  laborer  receives  a  larger  quantity  of  gold  in  re- 
turn for  his  labor  that  he  did  fifty  years  ago.  It  is  due  to 
the  abundance  of  products  and,  in  particular,  to  the  pro- 
gress of  industry  which  has  cheapened  production.  I  have 
given  abundant  testimony  of  this  fact  in  the  first  and  second 
chapters  of  this  work.  I  quote  another  striking  instance 
from  Mr.  Schoenhof's  Money  and  Prices,  page  17. 

England.    Prices  United  States.    Prices 


1854. 

1889. 

1854. 

1889. 

Raw  cotton. . . . 

100  lbs.  53s.  7d. 

53s. 

1  lb.  11  cts. 

11.5  cts. 

Cotton  thread. . 

100  lbs.  12s. 

1  lb.  24  cts. 

22.3  cts. 

Figured  calicoes 

100  yds.  25s. 

19s. 

1  yd.    6  cts. 

4.6  cts. 

Printed  calicoes 

100  yds.  34s. 

25s. 

1  yd.    8  cts. 

6.1  cts. 

Calculating  the  net  variation  in  prices  according  to  the 
consumption  of  the  various  commodities,  the  cost  of  living 
(rent  included,  but  assumed  to  be  unchanged)  was  found 
to  be  about  four  per  cent  less  in  1891  than  in  i860  (96.2 
as  compared  with  ioo).28 

of  prices,  since  October,  1898,  food  products  have  played  an  incon- 
spicuous part." 

Average  Average 

Tear.  relative  Year.  relative 

price.  price. 

1890 99.0  1896 79.8 

1891 102.2     1897 79.2 

1892 96.0     1898 83.4 

1893 100.9  1899  (first  quarter) 86.6 

1894 90.7  "    (second  quarter) 87.1 

1895 88.9  "    (third  quarter) 85.9 

Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  March,  1900,  pp.  266-267.] 
28  Wholesale  Prices,   Wages,  and   Transportation,   pt.    i,  p.  9.     The 
variation  between  i860  and  1891  in  the  several  lines  of  expenditure 


412  The  American  Laborer 

It  was  found  possible  to  carry  a  large  part  of  the  quota- 
tions as  far  back  as  1840  and  thus  establish  a  comparison 
between  that  year  and  1891.  Comparing  these  two  years 
the  rise  in  wages  appears  very  great.  Retaining  i860  as 
the  standard  of  comparison,  wages  are  shown  to  have  risen 
from  a  level  represented  by  88  in  1840  to  one  represented 
by  160  in  1890.  Nominal  wages  have  thus  increased  al- 
most 100  per  cent  in  the  last  half-century.  From  1840  to 
i860  they  increased  slowly;  very  rapidly  from  i860  to  1873 
(though  the  increase  was  more  apparent  than  real);  from 
1873  to  1878  there  was  a  decline;  in  1879  tnev  again  com- 
menced to  increase,  but  at  a  slower  rate. 

By  a  similar  calculation  average  prices  were  found  to  be 
1 16.8  in  1840;  100  in  i860;  and  92.2  in  1891.  A  supple- 
mentary report  showed  that  in  the  month  of  October, 
1891,  the  average  was  represented  by  91.0,  while  in  Oc- 
tober, 1892,  it  was  only  89.3.  In  the  period  noted,  then, 
average  prices  fell. 

The  resultant  of  these  opposite  movements  may  be  des- 
cribed as  follows:  (1)  in  1840  the  laborer  received  a  nomi- 
nal wage  represented  by  88  units,  each  of  which  would 
purchase  |ff  of  a  certain  set  of  commodities;  (2)  in  1890 
he  received  160  units,  each  of  which  would  purchase  ^ 
of  the  same  set  of  commodities;  (3)  consequently,  if  this  set 
of  commodities  is  of  exactly  the  same  composition  as  the 
consumption  of  the  laborer,  the  real  wages  of  the  latter 
have  risen  about  130  per  cent. 

The  rise  of  real  wages  has  not  taken  place  without  inter- 
ruption, and  it  has  not  been  so  marked  as  the  figures  indi- 
cate since  the  laborer  buys  at  retail,  and  in  consequence  does 
not  reap  the  full  benefit  of  the  fall  in  wholesale  prices. 
Nevertheless  the  laborer  has  profited  in  two  ways;  wages 


was  as  follows,  the  expenditure  in  i860  in  each  case  being  repre- 
sented by  100:  rent  100.0;  food  103.7;  fuel  98.1;  lighting  48.1;  cloth- 
ing 75.1;  all  other  items  95.3.  Excluding  rent,  the  cost  of  living 
was  represented  by  94.4  in  1891  as  against  100  in  i860. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  413 

and  the  purchasing  power  of  money  have  both  risen.  This 
is  but  another  demonstration  of  the  falsity  of  the  theory  that 
wages  are  regulated  solely  and  inflexibly  by  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing. Movements  of  a  similar  kind  have  taken  place  in 
Europe,  but  the  gain  of  the  laborer  has  probably  been 
greater  in  America,  because  an  important  group  of  prices 
which  were  formerly  lower  in  France  than  America  are 
now  higher  in  France. 

There  was  one  period  also,  1861-1868,  in  which  the  labor- 
er retrograded  instead  of  advancing.  The  enormous  emis- 
sion of  "  greenbacks "  depreciated  the  currency  and  pro- 
duced a  general  rise  of  prices.  But  while  prices  rose  116 
per  cent  from  i860  to  1865,  wages  rose  only  44  per  cent,  so 
that  with  respect  to  his  power  of  earning  the  necessaries  and 
comforts  of  life  the  workman  was  one-third  better  off  in 
i860  than  in  1865.  As  one  of  the  most  prominent  publicists 
of  the  labor  party  says  of  this  period:  "the  cost  of  living 
had  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  wages  of  workers,  and 
discontent  was  general."  2T  Happily  for  the  laborer  wages 
continued  to  advance  while  prices  soon  began  to  fall  under 
the  influence  of  several  forces,  chief  among  which  were  the 
return  to  sound  money  and  the  development  of  machinery." 

When  workingmen  assert  that  average  wages  have  fallen 


27  G.  E.  McNeill,  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  125. 

28  Prof.  Simon  Newcomb  is  in  error  when  he  makes  a  general 
increase  of  wages  equivalent  to  a  diminution  of  purchasing  power 
and  says  that  to  the  laborer  one  would  be  as  beneficial  as  the  other. 
The  two  phenomena  are  distinct  although  there  is  a  certain  con- 
nection between  them.  A  diminution  of  the  purchasing  power  of 
money  is  of  no  advantage  at  all  to  the  laborer.  But  experience 
shows  that  wages  have  increased  in  the  last  fifty  years  and  that  the 
laboring  class  has  received  a  real  advantage;  they  have  received  a 
double  benefit  in  the  fall  of  prices  and  the  rise  of  wages.  More- 
over, Prof.  Newcomb  himself  admits  (A  Plain  Man's  Talk,  etc., 
pp.  165-166)  that  the  demand  arising  from  the  capacity  of  purchas- 
ing on  the  part  of  wage-earners  stimulates  production.  "  There  is 
work  enough  to  be  done,  but  people  have  not  the  money  to  pay  for 
it.  It  is  not  the  work  to  be  done  which  is  limited,  but  it  is  the 
wages  which  people  can  afford  to  pay  for  that  work." 

28 


414  The  American  Laborer 

since  the  end  of  the  war  they  fail  to  remember,  or  do  not 
care  to  remember,  this  rise  in  the  purchasing  power  of 
money.  It  is  evident  that  unless  this  is  taken  into  account, 
no  valid  estimate  can  be  made  of  the  evolution  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  conditions  of  life  during  the  last  fifty 
years. 

When  the  budgets  of  French  and  American  laborers  are 
compared  item  by  item  it  is  found  that  the  purchasing  power 
of  gold  is  about  the  same  to  the  laborer  in  the  two  countries. 
The  American  laborer  pays  less  for  most  articles  of  food, 
particularly  meat  which  he  consumes  in  large  quantities, 
and  if  he  does  not  frequent  the  saloons  his  drink  costs  him 
little,  as  it  is  principally  water.  His  clothes  are  not  more 
expensive,  and  his  coal  and  coal-oil  cost  less;  if  he  pays 
more  rent  it  is  because  there  is  no  comparison  between  his 
dwelling  and  that  of  the  French  laborer.  The  visiting 
Frenchman  finds  a  commodity  here  and  there  whose  price 
seems  exorbitant,  but  it  is  usually  an  article  of  luxury  not 
included  in  the  ordinary  consumption  of  the  laborer.  I 
repeat  here  the  conclusion  arrived  at  in  a  preceding  chapter: 
it  is  the  social  power  of  money  and  not  its  purchasing  power 
which  is  responsible  for  the  higher  cost  of  living  among 
American  workmen. 

Workmen's  budgets  in  the  United  States. — American  statis- 
ticians, particularly  the  commissioners  of  labor,  have  made 
numerous  attempts  to  secure  accurate  family  budgets:  but 
the  undertaking  is  a  difficult  one  and  we  cannot  expect 
more  than  approximate  results.2* 

In  the  report  upon  conditions  of  labor  drawn  up  by  the 
French  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  the  budgets  of  American 


24  See  on  this  subject  the  Massachusetts  report  for  1875,  the  Ohio 
reports  from  1877  to  1886,  the  Illinois  reports  for  1879  and  1884,  the 
Missouri  reports  for  1880  and  1891,  the  New  Jersey  report  for  1885, 
the  Wisconsin  report  for  1895-96.  the  Maine  report  for  1887,  the 
reports  of  the  Department  of  Labor  for  1885,  1890  and  1891,  and 
the  analyses  of  Prof.  Falkner  in  the  two  Aldrich  reports  on  prices 
and  wages. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  415 

workmen  were  furnished  by  M.  Bruwaert,  one  of  the 
French  consuls-general  to  the  United  States.  One  was 
the  budget  of  a  miner  born  in  France,  whose  family  earned 
1759  francs  and  expended  2074  as  follows:  240  for  rent,  79 
for  heating  and  lighting,  365  for  clothing,  no  for  sickness, 
135  for  miscellaneous  items,  and  the  remainder  for  food. 
The  other  was  the  budget  of  a  French  cigar-maker  in  Chi- 
cago, who  earned  3950  francs  which  he  spent  in  the  follow- 
ing manner:  41.4  per  cent  for  food,  17.4  for  rent  and  lodg- 
ing, 5.6  for  heating,  21  for  clothing. 

The  delegation  of  French  laborers  which  visited  the 
World's  Fair  included  in  its  report  the  budget  of  a  typical 
New  York  laboring  family  (father,  mother,  and  two  chil- 
dren), which  had  been  communicated  by  an  American  "  of 
great  experience  in  social  questions."  The  income  was 
estimated  at  3570  francs  and  the  total  expenditures  at  3506 
francs  divided  as  follows:  rent  780;  food  1226;  clothing  665; 
heating  and  lighting  147;  miscellaneous  expenses  687;  sick- 
ness, furniture,  amusements  125  francs  each.  But  the 
budget  furnished  by  the  American  authority  is  evidently  not 
a  typical  one  since  he  has  based  his  calculations  on  an  aver- 
age daily  wage  of  $3.50  and  allowed  102  days  for  lost  time. 
Both  of  these  estimates  are  too  high.  In  addition  no  allow- 
ance has  been  made  for  the  earnings  of  children. 

In  contrast  to  this  are  the  following  budgets  prepared  by 
the  New  York  Bureau  of  Labor  in  1892.30  The  first  shows 
the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  a  young  mechanic,  29  years 
of  age,  who  lived  at  Auburn  with  his  wife  and  one  child. 
His  receipts  during  the  year  were  $853,  his  expenditures 
$705.  The  latter  were  distributed  as  follows:  $135  for  rent, 
including  light  and  heat;  $242  for  food;  $104  for  clothing — 
$45  for  himself,  $48  for  his  wife,  $11  for  his  daughter;  $224 
for  miscellaneous  items,  among  which  were  car-fare  $109, 
amusements  $25,  books  and  periodicals  $18,  religion  $15, 
tobacco  $10.     The  other  budget  was  that  of  a  cooper  living 

80  Tenth  Annual  Report,  New  York,  1892,  pp.  297  and  311. 


416 


The  American  Laborer 


at  Syracuse,  who  was  forty-five  years  old  and  had  a  wife  but 
no  children.  In  this  case  the  total  revenue  was  only  $394, 
and  was  expended  as  follows:  lodging  with  heat  and  light 
$83;  food  $167;  clothing  $61  ($36  for  the  husband,  $25  for 
the  wife);  insurance  $13.50;  miscellaneous  expenses  $70  (in- 
cluding $15  for  wine  and  liquor). 

As  I  have  remarked  above,  the  size  and  composition  of 
workmen's  budgets  vary  greatly  from  family  to  family,  ac- 
cording to  incomes,  tastes,  and  habits  of  thrift.  This  is  well 
illustrated  in  the  Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Labor,  which  covers  a  variety  of  trades  and 
occupations.81 

Maximum.  Minimum. 

Rent $109      (glass).  $33.1  (iron  ore.) 

Fuel 35     (cotton).  14.6  (coke). 

Lighting 6.6  (bar  iron).  2.9  (coke). 

Clothing  (husband) 42.2  (glass).  24.7  (cotton). 

"       (wife) 34.5  (glass).  16.7  (iron  ore). 

«       (children) 64.8  (cotton).  38.3  (iron  ore). 

Amusements 28.7  (glass).  9.4  (cotton). 

Taxes 13.3  (bar  iron).  3.4  (iron  ore). 

Insurance — property 9.7  (steel;.  2.0  (iron  ore). 

"            life 24.7  (bar  iron).  4.0  (iron  ore)- 

Labor  organizations 20.5  (glass).  — (iron  ore)- 

Great  variations  often  occur  in  the  same  occupation, 
where  one  might  expect  to  find  a  substantial  uniformity. 
The  following  illustration,  taken  from  the  Third  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Bureau  of  Industrial  and  Labor  Statistics  of 
Maine  (p.  36),  covers  83  quarrymen  of  that  State,  whose  in- 
comes ranged  from  $245  to  $1044. 

Rent $75  to  $30 

Food 450  to  100 

Clothing 150  to    25 

Light  and  heat  .... 55  to     20 

Societies 22  to      1  (0  for  8  families). 

Life  insurance 100  to  10  ($10  for  33  families). 

Miscellaneous 158  to      8 


31  Pp.  854-855. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  417 

The  wide  range  of  these  irregularities  raises  the  question 
whether  it  would  not  really  mislead  the  reader  to  calculate 
a  mean  from  such  data.  Would  not  such  a  mean  be  purely 
fictitious?  We  answer  no,  provided  the  meaning  of  the 
average  is  made  perfectly  clear  to  the  reader.  A  mean  of 
this  sort  is  merely  an  approximate  expression  of  the  prob- 
able point  towards  which  the  individual  returns  gravitate. 
The  description  of  individual  cases  is  very  interesting  be- 
cause when  it  is  done  by  a  skillful  hand  it  adds  life  and  in- 
dividuality to  the  subject  under  consideration.  But  the  in- 
dividual case  may  be  as  far  removed  from  the  type  as  the 
tail  of  a  comet  is  from  its  centre  of  gravity.  The  best  idea 
of  the  condition  of  the  laboring  man  will  be  obtained  when 
both  general  and  individual  views  are  taken,  monograph 
and  average  being  mutually  corrective  and  supplementary. 
The  human  mind  naturally  seizes  upon  the  type,  or  aver- 
age, in  such  conceptions. 

The  following  table  contains  the  average  proportional 
expenditures  as  calculated  at  various  times  by  the  labor 
commissioners  of  several  States,  and  by  Mr.  Edward  At- 
kinson. 

The  contents  of  this  table  may  be  summed  up  by  the 
simple  statement  that  in  the  United  States  one-half,  or  at 
least  two-fifths,  of  the  income  of  the  laborer  is  spent  for 
food,  about  one-sixth  for  rent,  the  same  proportion  for 
clothing,  and  the  remainder,  about  one-fifth,  for  other  ex- 
penses. 

Rent  is  always  an  important  item,  from  12.5  to  21.4  per 
cent  of  the  total  expenditure.  The  former  percentage  rep- 
resents the  proportion  paid  by  coal  miners,  whose  dwellings 
are  probably  comfortless  and  distant  from  any  town.  The 
latter  represents  the  proportion  spent  for  rent  in  New  York 
city.  Families  containing  a  large  number  of  children  often 
crowd  themselves  into  relatively  cheap  lodgings  because  of 
the  increased  cost  of  feeding  and  clothing  so  many  people. 
Among  the  textile  workers  for  instance  families  consisting 
of  man,  wife,  and  five  children  spend  on  an  average  only 


418 

The  American  Laborer 

FAMILY    BUDGETS    OF   AMERICAN 

WORKMEN. 

ESTIMATES 

f 

Iron  and  Coal 
Industries. 

[Sixth  Annual 
Report  of  the 

Commissioner  of 
Labor  of  the 

United  States.]1 

Glass  and  Textile 

Industries. 

Based  upon  returns  from  2,562 

normal  families.1 

[Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the 

Commissioner  of  Labor  of 

the  United  States.] 

Massachusetts. 

Cos  nec 

I  CUT. 

1888. 

Character 

of 
Expenses. 

"3 
o 

a 
o 
u 

"3 

02 

6 
to 

S3 
M 

O 

S3 

s 

c 
® 

Families 
of 

Families  of 

husband,  wife  & 
three  children. 

1875. 

1875. 

1883. 

CO 

C 

e'g 
II 

Approxt' 

result! 
based  up 

s'> 

ss 

■5-G 

CO  fl 

3  -A 

X 

£"© 
■a? 

—  "3  o 

■  a  u 

3  aj-O 
X 

a  . 
gs 

*  — 

2-3 

Bq 

Oc5 

e  . 

-  — 

*** 

go 

o? 
X 

sg 

'"as- 

S3 
B© 

09 

t-H 

S  . 
2S 

So 

Co 

C3  O 

Is 

§» 

CM 
O 

V 
QkO 

a6* 

CO 

0 

TO 

t 

1 

! 
i 

* 

1.  Rent 

12.5 
41.7 

17.5 

28.3 

13.0 
41.3 

17.7 

28.0 

16.3 

44.7 

15.3 
223.7 

15.1 
41.0 

5.0 
15.3 

0.9 
22.7 

16.1 
38.5 

5.0 
13.8 

0.9 
25.7 

13.9 

45.1 

4.9 

17.2 

0.8 
19.1 

16.0 
44.7 

8.3 
15.2 

1.1 
14.7 

15.2; 
45.9 

5.4 
15.5 

0.9 
17.1 

15.5 
35.4 

4.2 
15.8 

0.7 
38.4 

•26.0 
64.0 

7.0 

3.0 

17.0 
56.0 
6.0 
15.0 

J6.0 

19.7 

49.4 

4.3 

15.9 

'10.7 

20.0 
50.0 

20.0 

210.0 

8.0 
46.6 

6.7 
11.9 
20.4 

6.4 

1 

4 

1 
1 

2.  Food 

I 

4.  Clothing 

" 

5.  Lighting 

6.  All  other  expenses 

■:• 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

K 

:< 

1  Statistics  quoted  from  Mr. 
Gould's  article  in  La  Reforme 
Sociale. 

2  Includes  heating  and  lighting. 

1  Proportions  quoted  in  the 
Aldrich  Report  on  Retail  Prices 
and  Wane*,  page  xli,  and  the 
Report  on  Wholesale  Prices, 
pt.  I,  p.  86. 

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Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets 


419 


THE   PROPORTIONAL    DISTRIBUTION    OF    EXPENDITURE. 


New 

York. 

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Wisconsin. 

55 

en 

1891. 

1885. 

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1890. 

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Laborers.1 

Puddlers.2 

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49.2 

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420  The  American  Laborer 

12.9  for  rent.  Heating  is  another  costly  item,  from  4.2  to  9 
per  cent,  although  fuel  is  not  dear.  But  the  winter  is  severe 
in  the  north.  The  expenditure  for  light — about  1  per  cent 
— is  small.  The  relative  expenditure  for  clothing  varies 
from  20.9  among  the  glass-workers  of  New  Jersey,  to  11.3 
among  the  laborers'  families  of  Connecticut. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  find  an  explanation  of  the  most  char- 
acteristic differences  that  are  noticed  among  the  various 
budgets.  The  highest  percentage  for  food,  61.9  per  cent, 
occurs  among  the  weavers  of  New  Jersey.  The  reason  is 
that  their  wages  are  very  low,  and  food  is  the  first  necessity 
of  life.  They  make  it  up  by  using  only  2.1  per  cent  for  mis- 
cellaneous expenses,  among  which  amusement  and  saving 
occupy  prominent  places.  In  the  same  class  are  the  mat- 
tress-makers of  Wisconsin,  who  spend  59.5  for  food,  and 
6.3  for  miscellaneous  items.  At  the  other  extreme  is  the 
Colorado  plumber  who  earns  more  than  $800  and  spends 
38  per  cent  for  food  and  22.9  for  miscellaneous  items,  or  the 
New  York  laborer  who  brings  in  $853  a  year,  and  spends 
34.3  for  food,  and  31.8  for  miscellaneous  items.  When  there 
are  no  children  in  the  family  the  expenditure  for  food  is 
relatively  small  as  a  rule.  According  to  the  Seventh  Annual 
Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  38.5  per  cent  is  spent 
for  food  when  there  are  no  children,  45.1  per  cent  where 
there  are  five  children. 

The  earnings  of  the  Massachusetts  laborer  were  practi- 
cally the  same  in  1875  and  1883,  but  the  expenditure  for 
food  fell  from  56  to  49.4  per  cent.  How  are  we  to  account 
for  this  fact?  Was  it  because  food  had  become  cheaper? 
That  this  is  the  true,  explanation  seems  to  be  demonstrated 
by  the  budgets  of  the  puddler  and  plumber  of  Colorado." 
Taking  1875  as  tne  basis  of  comparison,  I  would  not  hesi- 


32  Food  was  higher  in  1891  than  in  i860,  but  as  shown  in  Prof. 
Falkner's  continuation  of  the  Aldrich  Report  "Wholesale  Prices: 
1890  to  1899."  was  lower  in  the  years  1892-99  than  in  1891.  Bulletin 
of  the  Department  of  Labor,  March,  1900,  pp.  266-267.     [Tr.] 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  421 

tate  to  accept  this  explanation,  because  the  inflation  of  prices 
resulting  from  the  issue  of  greenbacks,  was,  on  the  whole, 
unfavorable  to  the  workman.  And  yet,  the  fall  of  prices 
from  1869  to  1891,  according  to  the  Aldrich  report,  seems  to 
have  been  only  about  three  per  cent. 

The  correspondence  between  the  increase  of  income  and 
the  increase  of  miscellaneous  expenses,  is  very  marked  in 
the  statistics  published  in  the  Seventh  Report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor:  with  the  increase  of  income  the  miscella- 
neous expenditures  rise  from  14.7  to  17.1  to  28.4  per  cent. 
The  miscellaneous  expenses  also  rise  as  the  size  of  the  family 
diminishes.  Families  with  five  children  spend  19.1  per 
cent  for  miscellaneous  purposes;  families  without  children, 
25.7  per  cent. 

The  cost  and  standard  of  living. — I  have  shown  in  chapter 
VIII  that  the  standard  of  living  is  an  effect  rather  than  a 
determinative  cause  of  nominal  wages:  it  is  much  easier  to 
spend  all  you  make  than  to  make  all  you  wish  to  spend. 
This  truth  is  so  apparent  that  there  would  be  no  necessity 
for  repeating  it,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  there  are  a 
number  of  American  theorists  who  maintain,  not  without 
ability  and  a  show  of  reason,  that  the  rate  of  wages  is  de- 
termined by  the  standard  of  living. 

In  order  to  come  to  a  clear  understanding  upon  this  point, 
let  us  repeat  our  definitions:  (1)  By  nominal  wages  we  mean 
the  amount  of  money  received  by  the  laborer  as  the  price  of 
his  time  or  labor;  (2)  real  zuages  may  be  defined  as  the 
quantity  of  commodities,  in  ordinary  consumption  among 
the  laboring  class,  which  can  be  purchased  with  this  amount 
of  money;  (3)  the  standard  of  living  is  represented  by  the 
aggregate  of  consumables  which  the  laborer  ought  to  en- 
joy, in  order  to  live  in  conformity  with  his  social  rank;  (4) 
the  cost  of  living  is  the  sum  of  money  required  to  obtain 
this  aggregate  of  goods  and  services.  If  nominal  wages  are 
high,  the  labor  can,  not  only  maintain  the  customary  stand- 
ard of  living,  but  can  lay  a  little  money  aside.  Again,  if 
prices  fall,  he  can  maintain  his  rank  with  a  smaller  expend i- 


422  The  American  Laborer 

ture,  and  the  cost  of  living  decreases.  It  is  true,  however, 
that  if  the  lower  level  of  prices  becomes  permanent,  the 
laborer  gradually  acquires  new  wants  which  are  satisfied  by 
means  of  the  surplus,  and  in  this  event  the  standard  of  liv- 
ing rises.  It  may  also  happen  in  the  latter  contingency  that 
nominal  wages  fall.  At  any  given  time  the  standard  of  liv- 
ing is  nearly  the  same  for  all  laborers  of  the  same  class,  but 
the  cost  of  living  will  not  be  the  same  for  a  family  having 
six  children  and  a  family  having  none. 

Mr.  Gunton,  who  proposes  the  standard  of  living  as  the 
regulator  of  wages,  attempts  to  explain  what  determines  this 
standard.  He  cannot  say  that  what  the  laborer  buys  is  de- 
termined by  what  he  has  to  spend.  According  to  his  theory 
this  would  be  taking  effect  for  cause,  and  in  consequence  he 
is  forced  to  invoke  usage,  habit,  education  by  social  environ- 
ment.83 Mr.  Gunton  is  right  in  a  way.  These  conditions 
do  exercise  a  great  influence  upon  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  the  rate  of  wages.  But  what  creates  cus- 
tom? The  customs  of  civilized  people  have  undergone  a 
radical  change  in  the  last  century:  Prof.  Newcomb's  fable 
of  the  archangel  Michael  gives  us  an  idea  of  the  change  in 
the  habits  of  American  laborers.  Among  the  many  causes 
which  have  contributed  to  produce  this  change,  the  princi- 
pal one  is  the  general  increase  of  wealth.  And  the  wealth 
of  the  laborer  is  his  wage. 

Mr.  Gunton  believes  that  his  theory  explains  the  exist- 
ence of  that  class  of  working  people  who  are  continually 
involved  in  the  direst  struggle  to  make  ends  meet.  He 
maintains  that  in  certain  families,  because  of  poor  manage- 
ment or  unusually  heavy  expenses,  the  cost  of  living  has 
risen  to  the  exact  level  of  nominal  wages,  and  that  these 
families  determine  the  general  rate  of  wages  in  the  group  to 


33  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  187.  The  opinions  maintained  here 
were  first  presented  in  the  Yale  Review.  They  have  been  criticised 
by  Mr.  Gunton  in  an  article  published  in  Gunton' s  Magazine,  Febru- 
ary, 1897. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  423 

which  they  belong.34  The  author  thus  makes  an  ingenious 
application  of  Ricardo's  law  of  rent  to  the  wages  of  labor, 
by  assuming  that  in  every  class  of  labor  wages  are  fixed  by 
the  maximum  cost  of  living  of  the  laborers  necessary  to 
produce  the  required  output.  But  he  takes  no  account  of 
the  elasticity  of  the  laborer's  budget.  At  any  given  time 
and  market  the  price  of  wheat  may  be  substantially 
rigid.  But  this  is  not  true  of  the  cost  of  living  which  is 
more  elastic  and  contractile.  As  an  American  said  to  me: 
"Whatever  his  wage,  the  laborer  lives."  Mr.  Gunton 
might  have  added  that  there  are  families  whose  earnings  are 
at  times,  or  indeed  as  a  general  rule,  insufficient  to  provide 
them  with  the  bare  necessities  of  life,  whose  poverty 
amounts  to  actual  indigence.  They  find  a  market  for  their 
labor,  but  they  do  not  regulate  the  rate  of  wages. 

The  standard  of  life  undoubtedly  operates,  but  it  acts 
rather  to  retard  and  soften  a  precipitate  fall  of  wages,  than 
to  force  wages  up.  A  comparison  will  help  to  make  my 
thought  clear.  If  we  plunge  a  cork  into  a  stream,  it 
promptly  ascends  to  the  surface:  but  the  surface  may  be 
higher  or  lower,  relatively  to  the  bank  of  the  stream.  In 
a  similar  way  the  rate  of  wages  naturally  tends  to  seek  the 
level  required  by  the  standard  of  living,  and  if  it  accidentally 
falls  below  this  level,  exhibits  a  strong  tendency  to  find  it 
again.  But  the  standard  of  life  itself  may  vary  like  the  gen- 
eral level  of  the  stream.  Surely  it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat 
that  the  variations  of  the  standard  are  dependent  upon  the 
general  state  of  social  wealth,  upon  the  rate  of  wages  itself 
which  is  intimately  connected  with  the  state  of  wealth,  and 
upon  consumption,  productive  or  unproductive,  in  which 
this  wealth  manifests  itself. 

Prof.  Simon  Newcomb  has  endeavored  to  show  "  that  it 
is  physically  and  mathematically  impossible  that  higher 
wages  should  enable  the  great  masses  of  people  of  the 
country  to  get  more  or  better  food  or  clothes,  unless  more 

34  Wealth  and  Progress.     Section  ix,  "  The  Standard  of  Living." 


424  The  American  Laborer 

or  better  food  and  clothes  are  made,"  and  that  "  if  all  these 
improvements  are  made  in  production  we  are  sure  to  get 
the  advantage  of  them,  no  matter  whether  our  wages  are 
increased  or  not." a  I  have  already  pointed  out  the  weak- 
ness of  this  argument.30  No  one  denies  that  if  the  volume 
of  production  expands,  prices  will  fall,  and,  other  things 
remaining  the  same,  the  laborer  will  profit  by  the  fall  of 
prices.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  restricted  group  of  work- 
men secures  an  increase  of  wages,  other  things  remaining 
the  same,  they  will  either  save  more  money  or  buy  more 
commodities,  and  for  that  particular  group  the  standard  of 
life  will  be  elevated.  Either  result  is  a  fortunate  change  for 
them. 

A  sudden  increase  of  wages  does  not  always  produce 
good  results.  Employers  are  sometimes  heard  to  say: 
"  High  wages  cause  drunkenness  and  vice."  These  men 
mistake  the  exception  for  the  rule.  A  sudden  lucky  wind- 
fall frequently  turns  the  head  of  the  happy  recipient,  and  is 
frittered  away  in  idle  extravagance  or  something  worse. 
It  is  very  possible  too  that  a  few  of  the  better  paid 
workmen  acquire  unnecessarily  expensive  tastes  and  habits. 
But  it  is  wholly  misleading  to  pretend  that  the  steel-roller 
who  makes  $6  a  day  is  more  vicious  than  the  day-laborer 
who  makes  only  $i ;  on  the  contrary  his  life  will  probably 
be  more  refined  in  every  respect.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
justice  in  Mr.  Gunton's  remark:  "When  the  dollar  comes 
before  the  want  it  is  very  liable  to  be  wasted;  when  it  comes 
as  a  result  of  the  want  it  is  sure  to  be  utilized."  In  other 
words  it  is  necessary  that  the  standard  of  living  should  have 
time  to  develop  if  advances  in  nominal  wages  are  to  be  ab- 
sorbed and  utilized. 

Comparison  with  the  budgets  of  European  workmen. — Prof. 
Engel  made  a  study  of  this  question  forty  years  ago  in  Sax- 
ony, and  as  a  result  of  his  investigation  published  estimates 
of  the  proportional  expenditure  of  workmen  which  have 

35  A  Plain  Man's  Talk,  pp.  155,  160.  36  Supra,  ch.  viii. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  425 

become  classical.  Among  the  higher  classes  of  laborers, 
one-half  of  the  income  is  spent  for  food:  the  lower  classes 
spend  about  three-fifths  for  this  purpose.87 

In  the  United  States  where  wages  are  high  the  latter  pro- 
portion, or  less,  holds  good,  and  except  for  the  New  Jer- 
sey weavers  and  the  mattress-makers  of  Wisconsin,  this 
statement  may  be  accepted  with  practically  no  qualifications. 

In  one  of  the  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  of 
New  Jersey  a  table  of  this  nature  for  New  Jersey  is  pre- 
sented, and  compared  with  a  similar  table  for  Great  Britain 
(1883).  The  differences  between  the  two  are  slight.  A 
little  more  was  spent  for  rent  and  lighting  in  the  latter 
country,  the  difference  being  made  up  from  the  miscella- 
neous expenses,  and  clothing  cost  as  much  as  in  America 
within  two  per  cent.88 

In  the  investigation  conducted  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Labor  of  the  United  States,  the  European  section  of  which 
was  in  charge  of  Dr.  Gould,  the  comparison  of  budgets  be- 
tween $400  and  $500  showed  almost  exactly  the  same  re- 
sults for  clothing,  heating,  and  miscellaneous  expenses  in 
the  United  States  as  in  Europe.     The  proportion  devoted 


37  Relative  expenditures  according  to  Engel: 

Workmen  with  incomes  ranging  Incomes  from 

from  $225  to  $300.  $750  to  $1100. 

Food 62  50 

Clothing 16  18 

Rent 12  12 

Heating  and  lighting.                      5  5 

Education 2  5.5 

Taxes,  etc 1 

Health  1  3 

Amusements 1  3.5 

100.0  100.0 

38  Relative  expenses  of  the  laboring  family  in   Great  Britain  in 

1883: 

Food 51.4 

Rent 13.5 

Clothing 18.1 

Lighting  and  heating 3.5 

Miscellaneous 13.5 

100.0 


426  The  American  Laborer 

to  food  was  a  little  lower,  and  that  devoted  to  rent  a  little 
higher,  in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe.  The  rent  item 
is  a  still  greater  burden  in  America  among  laborers  with 
smaller  wages.88 

So  much  for  relative  expenditures.  It  is  also  interesting 
to  compare  the  actual  expenditures.  In  the  investigation 
of  the  textile  industries  made  by  the  commissioner  of  labor, 
the  average  earnings  of  1585  American  families  were  found 
to  be  $514.  The  mean  income  of  334  European  families 
was  $352.40     The  average  expenditures  were  as  follows: 

American  laborers.       European  laborers. 

Food $211  $156 

Rent 75  38 

Clothing 69  47 

Heating 31  16 

Lighting 5  6 

Miscellaneous 90  69 

$481"'  $332*1 

Assuming  that  prices  are  the  same  in  the  two  continents, 
the  only  possible  conclusion  seems  to  be  that  the  American 
workman  lives  more  comfortably,  is  better  fed,  better 
lodged,  better  clothed,  spends  more  for  sundries,  and  neces- 
sarily more  for  fuel,  than  the  European. 

The  Belgian  workman,42  whose  food  and  pay  are  both 

39  Results  of  the  investigation  for  "  normal  families,"  i.  e  families 
consisting  of  husband,  wife,  and  five  or  more  children,  living  in  a 
rented  house.  The  investigation  covered  2562  American,  and  703 
European  families. 

Incomes  from  $400  to  $500  assumed 
to  be  representative. 

United  States.  Europe. 

Food 45.0S  48.20 

Rent 15.29  11.42 

Clothing 14.3S  15.0S 

Heating  and  lighting 6.62  6.24 

Other  expenses 18.63  19.06 

Seventh  Report  of  tJte  Commissioner  of  Labor,  p.  864. 

40  Seventh  Annual  Report,  p.  1932. 

"  There  was  a  surplus  of  receipts  over  expenditures. 
**  Average  wages  according  to  this  investigation  were  4  fr.  10  c. 
per  day  for  male  workmen,  and  1  fr.  15  c.  for  women. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets 


427 


poorer  than  those  of  the  American,  spends  more  for  food  in 
proportion  to  his  earnings  than  the  latter.  This  result,  quite 
in  accordance  with  well-known  laws,  is  brought  out  in  the 
Belgian  investigation  of  1891.  The  relative  expenditures 
of  the  average  Belgian  workman's  family,"  based  upon  188 
families,  are  shown  in  the  following  table.  Only  those  in- 
dustries are  mentioned  in  which  some  one  of  the  expenses 
is  at  a  maximum  or  minimum. 

Maximum.  Minimum. 

Per  cent.  Industry.  Per  cent.  Industry. 

Food 65.6  Cotton.  52  Clothing. 

Rent,    clothing,    heating, 

lighting 39.0  Clothing.  27.6  Mining. 

Luxuries 7.7  Woolen.  2.2  Cotton. 

Tor  moral,  religious,  and 

intellectual  needs 3.5  Glass.  1.0  Woolen. 

In  1853  a  similar  investigation  was  made  by  M.  Ducpe- 
tiaux.  A  comparison  of  the  two  studies  shows  that  there 
has  been  an  improvement  in  the  material  condition  of  the 
Belgian  workman  during  the  last  forty  years.  He  con- 
sumes more  than  three  times  as  much  meat  and  one  and  a 
half  times  as  much  vegetable  food  as  in  1853,  and  yet  he 
spends  a  smaller  proportion  to-day  upon  education,  period- 
icals, and  insurance — with  the  possible  exception  of  mutual- 
aid  societies,  to  which  most  Belgian  workmen  belong — than 
the  American  workman.  Among  his  luxuries  beer  and 
liquors  occupy  a  much  too  prominent  place,  and  this  place 
unfortunately   has   increased   in   relative   importance   since 

1853. 

In  1890,  under  the  title  Cent  Monographics  dc  Families, 
Cheysson  and  Toque  published  a  summary  of  those  inten- 
sive studies  of  individual  families  made  by  Le  Play  and  his 
disciples.  Nine  of  the  fourteen  Parisian  families — not  all 
workmen's  families  however — spent  more  for  food  than  for 
everything    else    combined.     Twenty    of    the    thirty-eight 

43  Salaires  et  Budgets  Ouvriers  en  1853  et  en  1891,  by  E.  Nicolai, 
chief  of  division  to  the  Ministere  de  L'Interieur,  1895. 


428  The  American  Laborer 

French  families  outside  of  Paris  and  thirty  of  the  forty-eight 
families  outside  of  France  did  the  same,  the  proportion  de- 
voted to  food  being  in  excess  of  70  per  cent  in  some  cases. 
One  metayer  farmer  in  the  province  of  Rome,  a  vine- 
dresser, devoted  75.9  per  cent  to  food."  These  are  indi- 
vidual cases  of  which  no  general  average  is  taken,  though 
the  majority  are  quite  in  accordance  with  the.  general  pro- 
portions ascertained  in  wider  statistical  investigations.  All 
of  the  cases  are  not  typical  however,  by  any  means;  the 
day-laborer  of  Paris,  for  instance,  spent  only  54.5  per  cent 
for  food,  although  his  family  was  very  large  (11  persons). 
The  proportion  devoted  to  lodging  seems  to  be  lower  in 
general  than  in  America,  and  to  vary  much  more  widely — 
from  2.1  to  14.4  per  cent.  Clothing  on  the  other  hand 
seems  to  occupy  a  far  more  important  place,  exceeding  15 
per  cent  on  the  average,  and  rising  in  a  few  cases  to  more 
than  20  per  cent. 

In  one  of  his  latest  studies  "  Dr.  Engel  has  endeavored  to 
show  the  growth  of  certain  expenditures  in  the  following 
way:  Starting  from  the  Belgian  statistics  prepared  by  M. 
Ducpetiaux  in  1853,  he  represents  each  item  of  budgets  less 
than  600  francs  by  unity,  and  from  this  basis  calculates  the 
relative  growth  of  each  item  as  the  income  increases.  The 
items  in  which  the  increase  was  most  marked  are  as  follows: 

"  Details  concerning  the  different  kinds  of  food  are  given.  In 
general,  the  cereals  play  a  very  important  part. 

48  Die  Lebenskosten  Belgischer  Arbciter-Familicn  Friihcr  und  Jetzt. 
See  Bulletin  dc  I'lnstitut  International  de  Statistique,  vol.  ix,  part  i, 
p.  41.  Dr.  Engel's  method  consists  in  gathering  as  many  family 
account  books  as  possible  and  calculating  his  results  from  these 
alone.  He  considers  the  books  more  trustworthy  than  viva  voce 
answers  to  an  investigator,  because  they  cannot  be  specially  pre- 
pared for  the  occasion.  This  data  Dr.  Engel  uses  to  calculate  the 
cost  of  rearing  an  adult  male — a  very  doubtful  calculation.  He 
takes  as  his  unit  the  cost  of  an  infant  during  the  first  year  of  its 
life,  and  increases  this  geometrically  by  one-tenth  each  year,  stop- 
ping at  the  twentieth  year  in  the  case  of  females  and  at  the  twenty- 
fifth  year  in  the  case  of  males.  Taking  100  francs  as  the  expense 
during  the  first  yea~,  he  finds  that  a  woman  twenty  years  old  has 
cost  4200  francs,  and  a  man  twenty-five  years  old.  5850  francs. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  429 

Less  than  600  600  to  900  900  to  1200  1200  to  2000  More  than 

francs.  francs.  francs.  francs.  2000  frs. 

Insurance 1  7  12  13  112 

Drink 1  3.1  5.9  12.1  27.8 

Guarantee  of  rights       1  2.7  8.5  19.1  25.0 

Miscellaneous 1  14.5  8  17  21.5 

Intellectual  needs.        1  2.5  6.8  20.7  17.8 

Health 1  1.5  3.2  5.4  9.8 

Clothing 1  2.1  2.8  4.4  7.0 

Meat 1  1.7  3  4.9  6.8 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  several  of  these  items 
represent  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  aggregate  expendi- 
tures even  in  the  higher  budgets.  Thus,  while  ly  per  cent 
is  spent  for  meat  in  budgets  of  2000  francs  or  more,  and  as 
much  for  clothing,  insurance  absorbs  less  than  I  per  cent." 
The  difference  becomes  more  pronounced  as  the  income  in- 
creases. Thus,  the  head  of  a  bourgeois  family  whose  ex- 
penditures exceeded  20,000  francs,  published  his  family 
budget  in  the  Journal  de  la  Societe  de  Statistique  de  Paris. 
Scarcely  30  per  cent  of  his  total  expenditures  went  for  food, 
but  the  miscellaneous  expenses  absorbed  28  per  cent,  al- 
most half  of  which  was  spent  in  the  satisfaction  of  intel- 
lectual wants." 

40  It   is  worthy  of  note  that  in   Dr.    Engel's   statistics  the    food 

index  is  very  much  higher  than  in  most  of  the  budgets  I  have  cited: 

71.5  per  cent  in  the  lowest  class  (incomes  less  than  600  francs)  and 

64.8  per  cent  in  the  highest  class  (incomes  more  than  2000  francs). 

47  The  budget  was  as  follows: 

Amounts.  Per  cent. 

Food  6158  29.4 

Clothing 2630  12.7 

Lodging 3391  16.4 

Furniture 379  1.8 

Heating  and  lighting  . . .                888  4.3 

Servants  and  workmen  .             1495  7.2 
Miscellaneous,  to  wit : 

Culture 2715  13.4 

Travel 965  4.6 

Amusements 396  1.9 

Gifts 920  4.5 

Medicine   and   medical  at- 
tendance                 665  3.4 

Sundries 70  _0\4 

20,672  100 


430  The  American  Laborer 

Real  wages,  nominal  wages,  and  the  general  well-being  of 
workingmen  in  Europe  and  America:  conclusions. — The  ques- 
tion of  the  excess  of  receipts  over  expenditures  is  one  of 
great  importance  in  the  study  of  the  workman's  family,  for 
it  is  this  surplus,  generally  speaking,  that  enables  the  work- 
man to  improve  his  social  standing  or  to  live  comfortably 
during  his  old  age.  But  this  surplus  as  we  have  shown  is 
not  the  only  index  of  the  well-being  of  the  workingman. 
The  sensible  man  lives  for  the  present  although  he  does  not 
forget  the  future;  his  wants  increase  with  his  income,  and 
in  all  classes  of  society  he  augments  his  pleasures  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  increase  of  his  wealth.  This  development 
of  the  comfort  of  life,  I  might  almost  say  of  life  itself,  is  per- 
fectly legitimate  so  long  as  the  wants  work  no  injury  to 
others  and  are  kept  within  the  means  of  satisfaction. 

Wages  are  higher  in  America  than  in  Europe,  and  as  a 
consequence  the  American  workman  develops  more  wants, 
and  enjoys  greater  comfort  than  the  European  workman. 
Mr.  Gunton  has  explained  why  the  American  workmen 
find  it  almost  impossible  to  live  on  wages  that  enable  the 
Italian  immigrants  to  save  money.  The  explanation  is 
found  in  the  simple  fact  that  the  two  classes  regulate  their 
lives  by  different  standards:  the  American  standard  leaves 
a  large  margin  for  the  Italian  laborer.48  I  called  attention 
to  this  fact  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  and  now  before 
summarizing  the  results  of  the  chapter,  I  repeat  it,  in  order 
that  it  may  be  perfectly  clear. 

i.  Political  economy  teaches  that  real  wages  are  equal  to 
nominal  wages  multiplied  by  the  coefficient  of  the  commer- 
cial power  of  money. 

2.  Food,  fuel  and  kerosene  are  cheaper,  or  at  least  no 
higher,  in  the  United  States  than  in  France;  cloth  and 
clothing  are  probably  as  cheap,  and  rents  are  quite  as  low 
when  the  size  of  the  lodging  is  considered.  The  objects  of 
ordinary  consumption,  then,  quality  and  quantity  being  the 

48  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  95. 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  431 

same,  cost  rather  less  in  the  United  States  than  in  France,  and 
the  prices  paid  by  laboring  people  in  the  great  cities  of  the 
United  States  are  certainly  as  low  as  those  prevailing  in  the 
larger  French  cities.  Consequently  if  nominal  wages  are 
nearly  twice  as  high  in  the  United  States,  real  wages  must 
be  -fully  twice  as  great. 

3.  Their  high  rate  of  wages  has  created  among  American 
workmen  a  standard  of  living  that  is  superior  to  that  of 
French,  and  probably  to  that  of  English,  workmen.  The 
life  of  the  American  workman  is  broader,  his  comforts  far 
more  numerous.  This  superiority  shows  itself  in  almost 
every  line  of  expenditure;  in  his  food  which  is  more  sub- 
stantial and  abundant  if  not  more  varied;  in  his  expenditure 
for  dress;  in  the  conveniences  of  his  dwelling;  in  the 
amounts  devoted  to  travel,  amusement,  and  moral  needs,  to 
trades-unions  and  insurance  of  various  kinds.  Another  in- 
dication of  the  same  fact  is  found  in  the  relations  between 
the  several  expenditures  of  his  budget;  he  spends  less  than 
one-half  of  his  earnings  for  food,  while  in  other  countries 
about  three-fifths  are  spent  for  food.  It  is  true  that  he  is 
occasionally  wasteful;  this  is  one  of  the  defects  of  his  edu- 
cation. It  is  also  true  that  he  spends  nearly  all  he  makes; 
but  this  is  merely  his  right.  If  in  one  way  or  another  he 
manages  to  make  some  provision  for  the  future,  he  has 
saved  himself  from  the  reproach  of  prodigality. 

4.  One  frequently  hears  the  remark  that  it  costs  the 
American  workman  a  very  great  deal  to  live,  and  this  is 
true.  The  social  power  of  money  is  lower  in  America  than 
in  Europe.  But  this  merely  signifies  that  the  American 
workman  must  satisfy  a  greater  number  of  wants  if  he  would 
retain  the  high  social  position  in  which  he  is  placed.  His 
wants  being  more  numerous  he  must  spend  more  money. 
If  a  reduction  of  wages  or  the  loss  of  his  place  forces  him 
temporarily  to  retrench  a  little,  he  thinks  himself  very  un- 
fortunate and  feels  the  privation  keenly,  just  as  everyone 
does  in  any  class  of  society  who  is  obliged  to  dispense  with 
some   of  his   usual   comforts.     With   a   dollar   a   day   the 


432  The  American  Laborer 

American  workman  is  in  distress;  the  French  workman  gets 
along  nicely  on  five  francs,  or  even  less. 

5.  Beneath  the  average  class  of  workmen — those  that  earn 
two  dollars  a  day — there  is  a  mass  of  laborers  who  cannot 
attain  this  standard  of  living  because  they  are  without  spe- 
cial training  and  have  nothing  to  offer  but  their  labor. 
Their  life  is  painful  because  they  cannot  live  like  their  fel- 
lows. 

6.  Below  this  class  in  turn,  there  are  in  America  as  in 
Europe,  a  great  number  of  people  who  are  unable  to  sup- 
port themselves  in  any  way,  and  in  the  great  cities  one  can 
find  the  most  distressing  misery.  Here,  poverty  becomes 
the  most  painful  pauperism. 

7.  The  nominal  wages  of  American  workmen  have  risen 
almost  without  interruption  since  1830.  The  interruption 
caused  by  the  regime  of  paper  money  was  apparent,  not 
real. 

8.  From  1830  to  i860  wholesale  prices  increased,  but 
only  about  one-fourth  as  much  as  wages.  From  i860  to 
1891,  disregarding  the  inflation  produced  by  the  issue  of 
paper  currency,  prices  fell  9  per  cent.  It  follows  that  from 
1830  to  i860  real  wages  increased  a  little  less,  while  from 
i860  to  1891,  they  increased  a  little  more  than  nominal 
wages. 

A  Philadelphia  workingman  told  me  that  a  laborer  could 
save  money  on  $9  a  week  if  he  had  a  wife  who  was  a  good 
manager,  while  at  St.  Louis  another  workingman  told  me 
that  it  was  very  difficult  to  support  a  family  on  $10  a  week. 
In  the  familiar  table  talk  of  several  workmen,  which  I  once 
overheard,  the  men  cited  instances  of  fellow  workmen  who 
owned  two  or  even  three  houses,  and  debated  whether  a 
weaver  or  cigar-maker  on  $15  a  week  could  buy  a  home. 
One  answered  "  no,"  another,  "  yes,  if  he  stints  himself, 
although  the  American  workman  is  not  given  to  that." 
How  many  French  workmen  are  there  who  would  regard 
45  or  50  francs  a  week  as  the  minimum  upon  which  to  sup- 
port their  families,  and  who  with  such  wages  would  think 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  433 

it  impossible  to  acquire  real  estate?  The  difference  in  the 
standard  of  living  lends  a  different  aspect  to  the  question. 

This  does  not  imply  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  French 
workman  to  make  both  ends  meet,  to  use  a  popular  phrase. 
It  would  probably  be  impossible  for  an  American  workman 
suddenly  removed  to  France,  and  in  any  event  he  would  feel 
the  hardship  very  keenly.  The  European  removed  to 
America,  however,  thrives  upon  the  change.  At  first  per- 
haps he  accepts  a  reduced  wage,  but  he  quickly  puts  him- 
self in  touch  with  the  new  conditions.  Here  we  have  at 
once  the  explanation  of  immigration  and  of  the  antagonism 
which  it  arouses  among  Americans. 

Neither  does  this  imply  that  the  American  finds  it  an  easy 
matter  to  live  within  his  income.  He  must  live  as  his  neigh- 
bors do,  and  this  requires  practically  all  he  earns.  Let 
something  happen  to  reduce  his  earnings  or  increase  his 
expenses,  and  immediately  there  is  a  deficit.  Such  inci- 
dents are  common  enough  in  the  lives  of  laboring  men. 

The  American  purchases  about  twice  as  many  useful  and 
agreeable  things  with  his  wage  of  $2  as  the  Frenchman  does 
with  his  5  francs;  but  he  is  far  from  appreciating  the  dif- 
ference. He  gives  no  more  thought  to  what  the  French- 
man receives  than  the  Frenchman  gives  to  the  Hindoo  and 
his  earnings.  With  him,  as  with  most  men,  enjoyment  has 
dulled  the  edge  of  appetite.  If  on  the  contrary  he  suddenly 
finds  himself  reduced  to  $1.50,  he  feels  the  privation  keenly 
because  a  number  of  his  wants  must  go  unsatisfied.  But 
we  must  not  conclude  that  the  uplifting  of  the  standard  of 
life  is  a  matter  of  indifference,  because  the  appreciation  of 
the  change  is  not  permanent.  Man  lives  by  wealth,  and 
although  wealth  is  not  the  sole  end  of  life — indeed  it  is  far 
from  being  the  only  practical  end — it  conditions  his  material 
existence,  and  facilitates  the  development  of  his  moral  life. 
Comfort  is  an  end  in  itself,  independent  of  the  subjective 
pleasure  it  connotes.  It  becomes  the  more  important  po- 
litically and  the  more  interesting  to  mankind  as  it  descends 
into  the  lower  strata  of  society  where  want  and  misery  are 
29 


434  The  American  Laborer 

perennial,  and  where  it  ameliorates  the  condition  of  the 
masses  who  live  from  hand  to  mouth,  always  exposed  to 
the  loss  of  their  small  earnings  by  physical  accidents,  such 
as  sickness,  and  by  economic  accidents,  such  as  loss  of 
work. 

The  increase  of  real  and  nominal  wages,  and  the  growth 
of  wealth  showing  itself  in  an  elevation  of  the  standard  of 
living  and  in  a  diminution  of  the  social  power  of  money — 
two  expressions  of  the  same  fact — are  conditions  not  pecu- 
liar to  America.  The  improvement  is  due  to  the  progress 
of  agriculture  and  manufactures  on  the  one  hand;  and  on 
the  other,  to  the  abundance  of  capital,  the  demand  for  labor, 
the  spread  of  education,  the  formation  of  trades-unions, 
and  the  increase  by  modern  machinery  of  the  productivity 
of  labor. 

I  have  described  this  movement  and  attempted  to  give  an 
estimate  of  its  ultimate  destination  in  my  work  on  the 
French  population.4'  In  England  Sir  Robert  Giffen  and 
other  economists  have  done  the  same,  and  more  recently 
the  Royal  Commission  on  Labor  adopted  the  same  view  as 
the  final  conclusion  of  their  last  report.60 

48  See  La  Population  Frangaise,  vol.  iii,  p.  86  et  seq. 

50 The  passage  is  worthy  of  citation  here: 

"  The  impressions  left  by  the  evidence  as  a  whole  is  that  among 
the  more  settled  and  stable  population  of  skilled  workpeople  there 
has,  during  the  last  half  century,  been  considerable  and  continuous 
progress  in  the  general  improvement  of  conditions  of  life,  side  by 
side  with  the  establishment  of  strong  trade  customs  adapted  to  the 
modern  system  and  scale  of  industry.  Experience  may  fairly  be 
said  to  have  shown  that  this  part  of  the  population  possesses  in  a 
highly  remarkable  degree  the  power  of  organization,  self-govern- 
ment and  self-help.  Work  people  of  this  class  earn  better  wages, 
work  fewer  hours,  have  secured  improved  conditions  of  industrial 
and  domestic  life  in  other  respects  and  have  furthered  themselves 
through  trade  unions  and  friendly  societies.  .  .  . 

"  The  classes  who  compose  the  lower  grades  of  industry,  re- 
garded as  a  whole,  have  probably  benefited  no  less  than  the  skilled 
workers  from  the  increased  efficiency  of  production,  from  the 
advantages  conferred  by  legislation,  from  the  cheapening  of  food 
and  clothing  and  from  the  opening  out  of  new  fields  for  capital 


Real  Wages  and  Workmen's  Budgets  L35 

and  labour.  Of  the  mass  of  wholly  unskilled  labour  part  has  been 
absorbed  into  higher  grades,  while  the  percentage  of  the  total 
working  population  earning  bare  subsistence  wages  has  been 
greatly  reduced.  .  .  . 

"  There  is  still  a  deplorably  large  residuum  of  the  population, 
chiefly  to  be  found  in  our  large  cities,  who  lead  wretchedly  poor 
lives  and  are  seldom  far  removed  from  the  level  of  starvation;  but 
it  would  seem  that,  not  only  the  relative,  but  even  the  actual, 
numbers  of  this  class  also  are  diminishing."  Royal  Commission  on 
Labour,  Fifth  and  Final  Report,  Part  I,  p.  24. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PRESENT  CONDITIONS  AND  FUTURE 
PROSPECTS 


The  point  of  view  of  the  author. — In  the  series  of  chapters 
comprising-  this  work  I  have  described  in  their  various 
aspects  the  material  and  moral  conditions  of  the  American 
laborer,  showing  him  first  at  his  work  and  then  in  his 
family,  describing  the  relations  existing  between  him  and 
his  employer,  and  voicing  his  aspirations  for  social  better- 
ment. I  have  tried  to  draw  a  portrait  which,  if  not  com- 
plete, is  at  least  honest. 

To  complete  the  portrait  little  remains  but  to  collect  here 
the  many  and  at  times  incongruous  characteristics  which 
have  already  been  separately  sketched.  Economic  history, 
like  history  in  general,  is  seldom  characterized  by  the  uni- 
formity of  the  monograph.  It  is  a  drama  in  which  move 
an  infinite  number  of  figures,  isolated  and  united,  har- 
monious and  opposed,  pursuing  ends  which  are  varied  and 
variable,  swayed  by  passions  which  arise  both  from  their 
interests  and  their  feelings.  Everything  cannot  be  put 
upon  the  stage,  and  what  to  select  is  as  delicate  and  im- 
portant a  question  for  the  economist  or  historian  as  it  is 
for  the  dramatist. 

I  have  chosen  without  partiality  and,  I  trust,  without 
national  prejudice.  The  inclination  to  misjudge  people  of 
another  nationality  is  general.  We  imbibe,  with  the  very 
air  we  breathe,  a  spirit  of  national  vanity  that  leads  us  to 
believe  ourselves  better  than  others,  and  growing  accus- 
tomed to  a  certain  manner  of  living  and  thinking,  we  feel 
a  certain  surprised  contempt  for  those  whose  habits  are 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  437 

not  like  ours.  Neither  the  French  nor  the  American  peo- 
ple— I  refer  to  these  nations  only  at  this  point — are  free 
from  this  fault.  The  Frenchman,  workingman  or  bourgeois, 
finds  American  life  little  to  his  liking.  When  he  travels 
through  America  he  thinks  the  hotel  fare  poor,  for  the 
most  part,  and  the  service  costly.  When  he  settles  in 
America,  he  is  apt  to  complain  of  the  selfishness  of  business 
men  and  the  lack  of  sociability,  and  it  is  with  difficulty  that 
he  accommodates  himself  to  the  great  freedom  which 
children,  particularly  the  girls,  enjoy.  Yet  the  young  girls, 
particularly  in  the  better  classes  of  society,  are  much  better 
than  he  imagines;  and  in  their  business  dealings  the  Ameri- 
cans are  as  punctilious  as  other  people.  In  America,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  opinion  prevails  that  the  French  are 
frivolous,  noisy  and  dissolute.  This  is,  of  course,  a  mis- 
take, to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  most  Americans 
who  visit  Paris  frequent  the  public  places  without  entering 
into  the  family  life  of  the  middle  classes;' while  those  who 
judge  France  without  leaving  America — perhaps  I  should 
say  the  women,  for  it  is  the  women  who  do  most  of  the 
reading — read  little  except  our  novels,  and  their  choice  of 
these  is  not  always  the  most  wholesome. 

There  are  Frenchmen,  perhaps,  who  think  my  picture  of 
American  industry  and  the  condition  of  the  American 
laborer  far  too  flattering,  because  it  does  not  agree  with 
what  they  have  imagined  or  with  what  their  favorite  social 
theories  have  led  them  to  expect.  There  will  undoubtedly 
be  American  critics  also  who,  in  their  anxiety  about  the 
difficulties  which  now  retard  and  at  times  threaten  to  re- 
verse the  march  of  progress,  will  accuse  me  of  undue 
optimism  in  my  treatment  of  American  industry,  and  of 
undue  leniency  in  my  treatment  of  the  American  laborer. 
Other  American  critics,  on  the  contrary,  will  find  me  too 
distrustful  of  their  aspirations.  I  have  given  the  facts.  It 
is  quite  possible,  however,  that  unintentional  errors  have 
crept  in,  and  I  am  ready  to  revise  my  judgments  in  every 
case  in  which  it  is  demonstrated  to  me  either  that  the  facts 


438  The  American  Laborer 

are  inexact  or  that  they  have  been  so  grouped  as  to  be 
misleading. 


Part  I. — Present  Conditions:  A  Recapitulation. 

The  first  part  of  the  present  chapter  consists  of  the  con- 
clusions established  in  the  preceding  chapters.  With  a  few 
slight  changes,  this  resume  follows  the  arrangement  of 
matter  in  L'Ouvrier  Amcricain  paragraph  by  paragraph. 

I. 

American  industry  has  undergone  a  magnificent  develop- 
ment in  the  last  century,  and  particularly  in  the  last  fifty 
years.  Production  increased  almost  fivefold  in  the  thirty 
years  i860- 1890,  a  record  that  is  unequalled  by  any  other  of 
the  great  nations  of  the  world.  This  industrial  growth 
has  characterized  New  England,  where  American  industry 
was  born  and  where  it  still  keeps  its  firmest  foothold;  it 
has  kept  pace  with  colonization  in  the  Mississippi  valley, 
which  in  some  lines  now  disputes  the  supremacy  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts;  and  now  it  is  beginning  to 
transform  certain  sections  of  the  south.  At  the  census  of 
1890  the  manufactured  products  for  the  year  1889  were 
valued  at  $9,372,000,000. 

II. 

Concentration  is  one  of  the  marked  tendencies  of  Ameri- 
can industry.  In  large  manufactures  the  number  of  estab- 
lishments decrease  while  production  increases;  in  the  manu- 
facture of  agricultural  machinery,  for  example,  there  were 
2076  establishments  in  1870,  with  an  output  valued  at  $52,- 
000,000,  while  in  1890  the  establishments  numbered  910, 
and  the  production  was  valued  at  $82,000,000.  Small 
manufactures  are  losing  ground  and  even  those  of  moder- 
ate size  are  scarcely  holding  their  own.  Economists  have 
raised  the  question  whether  some  means  will  not  be  found, 
like  the  distribution  of  electricity,  in  small  quantities,  to 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  439 

check  this  movement  and  give  the  advantage  to  the  small 
producer.  It  is  certainly  possible  for  electricity  to  prove 
serviceable  in  domestic  industry,  but  economy  of  power 
is  not  the  only  advantage  of  concentration,  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  next  generation  will  see  a  fuller  development 
of  this  tendency  which  has  already  become  so  pronounced. 
The  abundance,  speed  and  cheapness  of  transportation 
facilitate  the  ease  with  which  enormous  capitals  are  col- 
lected in  the  form  of  shares  or  stock,  the  necessity  of 
machinery  adapted  to  cheap  production,  and  the  rapid  in- 
crease of  a  population  that  consumes  a  great  deal,  and  in 
numbers  now  approaches  75,000,000,  are  the  principal 
causes  of  this  phenomenon.  But  machinery  and  transpor- 
tation facilities  will  not  be  lacking  in  the  twentieth  century: 
on  the  contrary,  they  will  be  improved,  population  will  in- 
crease, although  the  rate  of  increase  will  probably  diminish, 
and  it  is  more  than  probable  that  capital  will  increase. 

On  the  other  hand,  nothing  justifies  the  supposition  that 
there  will  be  an  abatement  of  that  spirit  of  enterprise  which 
has  characterized  the  American  people  so  long,  and  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  formation  of  vast  enterprises.  Nor 
will  the  trust  and  the  various  forms  of  association  that 
attempt  to  control  the  market  by  the  power  of  combination 
be  abandoned.  The  laws  against  trusts  have,  and  will  be, 
practically  impotent;  as  futile  as  the  warning  given  by 
President  Cleveland  in  his  message  of  December  7,  i8o/>.  in 
which  he  denounced  these  colossal  combinations  as  in- 
jurious to  the  development  of  trade.  There  is  a  reason  for 
their  existence,  as  they  undoubtedly  result  from  the  free- 
dom of  industry,  a  freedom  they  now  threaten  to  subvert. 
The  same  necessity  for  combination — T  do  not  say  mo- 
nopoly— imposes  itself  on  all  the  great  manufacturing  na- 
tions which  desire  to  meet  competition  and  hold  or  enlarge 
their  place  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 

III. 

The  inventive  spirit  is  characteristic  of  the  American ;  the 
annual  number  of  patents  awarded  by  the  government  is 


440  The  American  Lab&rer 

proof  of  this.  He  is  always  in  search  of  improvements 
With  the  possible  exception  of  the  English,  no  people  use 
machinery  so  freely  in  small  as  in  large  industries,  nor  is 
there  any  people  more  eager  to  find,  or  more  prompt  to 
adopt,  any  improvement,  mechanical,  physical  or  chemical, 
which  has  for  its  object  economy  of  labor  or  the  accelera- 
tion of  production.  Invention  is  stimulated  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  people,  by  the  pressure  of  competition,  and  by 
the  high  rate  of  wages. 

The  machine  begins  as  the  servant,  but  it  ends  by  being 
master,  and  its  general  adoption  is  hastened  by  the  fact  that 
although  the  first  to  use  it  do  so  for  the  increased  profit  it 
brings,  the  mass  of  producers  must  adopt  it  to  avoid  bank- 
ruptcy, cost  what  it  may.  The  frequent  renewal  and  rapid 
amortisation  of  plant  are  consequences  of  the  intensity  of 
competition.  The  result  is  cheap  and  abundant  produc- 
tion. 

As  for  wages,  the  higher  the  rate,  the  more  economy  in 
substituting  machinery  for  labor;  and  again,  the  greater  the 
productivity  of  machinery,  the  higher  the  possible  range  of 
wages. 

IV. 

Skillful,  rapid  and  accustomed  to  work  with  powerful 
machinery,  the  American  workman  is  generally  diligent  and 
active.  He  is  paid  well  and  his  employer  will  not  tolerate 
indolence.  The  productivity  of  labor  in  America  may  be 
considered  high  in  comparison  with  that  in  most  European 
countries. 

V. 

Does  machinery  drive  out  the  workman?  The  prevalent 
opinion  among  the  people  is  that  it  does.  The  people  judge 
by  appearances,  and  there  is  no  doubt  about  the  apparent 
effect  of  machinery  upon  the  workmen:  the  machine  does 
the  work  of  a  man,  often  of  a  great  number  of  men,  and  it 
frequently  happens  in  a  factory  that  the  labor-force  is 
reduced  when  machinerv  is  introduced.     It  is  no  consola- 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  441 

tion  to  the  workman  to  know  that  society  is  being  benefited 
by  the  cheaper  production  when  he  is  without  work  and 
wages,  or  when  the  competition  of  the  unemployed  lowers 
the  rate  of  his  wages,  and  he  sees  day-laborers  filling  the 
former  places  of  skilled  artisans. 

All  economic  developments  destroy  capital  as  well  as 
displace  labor  and  inflict  suffering  upon  individuals  which 
social  sympathy  strives  to  mitigate.  It  would  be  unjust 
to  judge  them  by  a  single,  temporary  consequence;  they 
must  be  judged  by  the  sum  total  of  their  effects,  good  and 
bad,  over  a  series  of  years. 

To  appreciate  the  mission  of  the  machine  it  is  necessary 
to  remember  that  it  began  with  the  first  tool  man  learned 
to  fashion,  that  it  is  impossible  to  assign  it  bounds  and 
limits,  that  we  must  not  only  accommodate  ourselves  to  it 
as  a  necessity,  but  welcome  it  as  a  boon.  Looking  beneath 
the  surface,  it  becomes  apparent  that  in  spite  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  transition,  machinery  increases  the  demand 
for  labor  by  stimulating  and  cheapening  production;  the 
increased  demand  may  occur  in  the  industry  in  which  the 
machine  is  introduced,  or  it  may  arise  from  the  creation 
of  new  industries,  but  nowhere  is  there  so  much  money 
paid  in  wages  as  where  machinery  is  common. 

Experience  proves  this  in  Europe  and  America.  In  the 
United  States,  the  censuses  show  that  the  number  of  work- 
men is  increasing,  not  only  in  absolute  numbers,  but  in  pro- 
portion to  the  whole  population,  and  that  consumption  has 
developed  sufficiently  to  absorb  the  whole  surplus  created 
by  the  increase  of  labor-force  and  the  improvement  of  tools 
and  machinery. 

As  I  have  shown,  the  fear  of  the  laborer  that  machinery 
will  supplant  him  dates  from  an  early  period.  In  France, 
in  1829,  the  Saint-Simonians  bewailed  the  idleness  for  which 
they  believed  machinery  was  responsible,  and  repeated  the 
cry  of  Sismondi:  "  While  we  wait,  what  is  to  be  done  with 
the  thousands  of  starving  men?  "'     Since  that  time  not  only 

1  Exposition  de  la  Doctrine,  p.  91  (Edition  of  1866). 


412  The  American  Laborer 

thousands,  but  millions,  have  found  employment  in  factories 
equipped  with  machinery. 

The  specific  compensations  which  the  working  class  has 
received  for  temporary  periods  of  enforced  idleness  are 
these:  a  greater  demand  for  labor,  higher  wages  arising 
from  the  greater  productivity  of  labor,  and  cheaper  com- 
modities. In  the  last  benefit  the  whole  of  society  partici- 
pates. 

The  constant  improvement  of  tools,  machinery  and  the 
processes  of  production,  and  the  adoption  of  these  improve- 
ments in  industry,  are  certain;  it  is  a  simple  application  of 
the  principle  of  maximum  return  for  minimum  effort.  One 
does  not  have  to  be  an  economist  to  understand  this.  We 
but  turn  our  backs  upon  progress  and  attempt  the  impos- 
sible when  we  try  to  block  this  movement,  for  the  competi- 
tion of  producers  and  the  industrial  rivalry  of  nations  brush 
aside  the  impediments  which  law  or  custom  set  in  the  way 
of  progress;  all  this  is  involved  in  the  principle  of  minimum 
effort,  which  is  advantageous  to  the  general  welfare  and  one 
of  the  laws  of  political  economy.  There  is  no  incongruity, 
therefore,  in  congratulating  humanity  upon  the  benefits  of 
the  machine;  the  reasonable  thing  is  to  seek  some  means 
other  than  its  suppression,  to  mitigate  the  temporary  hard- 
ships which  it  often  causes. 

VI. 

The  question  whether  supply  determines  demand  or  de- 
mand determines  supply  is  a  disputed  one  in  economic 
theory  because  in  reality  they  react  upon  each  other. 

The  Americans  pride  themselves  on  having  a  higher  con- 
sumption per  capita  than  any  other  people,  and  several  of 
their  economists  regard  this  high  consumption  as  an  in- 
dustrial stimulus  and  the  cause  of  high  wages.  We  shall 
return  later  to  the  second  proposition,  which  the  labor  party 
has  adopted  virtually  as  an  axiomatic  truth,  although  it 
would  be  more  logical  to  reverse  the  terms  or  to  say  that 
it  is  the  abundant  production  of  wealth  which  is  responsible 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  443 

for  the  high  wages.  As  for  the  first  proposition,  it  is  un- 
deniable that  a  high  per  capita  consumption  stimulates  pro- 
duction by  absorbing  products.  With  high  wages,  with 
habits  of  comfort  among  the  masses  that  are  fostered  and 
developed  by  the  prevalent  democratic  spirit,  and  with  a 
population  of  seventy-five  millions  that  increases  more  than 
a  million  and  a  half  every  year,  the  United  States  call  forth, 
and  for  a  long  time  will  continue  to  call  forth,  an  increasing 
and,  above  all,  a  cheap  production. 

As  stated  above,  machinery  is  a  powerful  factor  in  pro- 
ducing this  abundance,  and  its  net  effect  upon  wages  is 
beneficial.  But  does  machinery  cause  over-production? 
It  can  bring  about  a  certain  congestion  at  a  fixed  time 
and  place,  as  any  sudden  increase  of  supply  may  do;  but 
so  long  as  there  are  buyers,  one  cannot  say  there  has  been 
over-production,  that  is,  production  that  is  superfluous  or 
unsuited  to  satisfy  a  want. 

The  number  of  buyers  of  a  commodity  will  increase,  if 
not  indefinitely,  at  least  in  a  proportion  that  has  no  definite' 
connection  with  the  decrease  in  the  price  of  the  commodity, 
and  the  manufacturer  usually  has  such  a  diminution  of 
price  in  view  when  he  adopts  new  machinery.  If  his  cal- 
culations have  been  correct,  he  creates  his  own  market;  if 
not,  he  ceases  to  produce.  The  equilibrium  between  pro- 
duction and  consumption  is  always  unstable;  it  is  estab- 
lished one  moment,  displaced  the  next,  and  is  then  re-estab- 
lished of  its  own  accord.  As  the  actual  needs  of  humanity 
are  far  from  being  fully  satisfied  and  are  always  capable  of 
indefinite  extension,  we  must  conclude,  in  a  general  way. 
that  there  is  never  too  much  wealth  in  the  world. 

VII. 

The  American  entrepreneur,  as  a  rule,  takes  the  shortest 
path  to  his  goal — business  gains.  This  is  why  he  em- 
ploys as  much  machinery  as  possible  and  exacts  from  his 
workmen  all  the  service  they  are  able  to  render.  He  him- 
self, in  many  cases,  has  risen  from  the  ranks  of  the  work- 


444  The  American  Laborer 

men,  or  from  even  humbler  employment,2  and  frequently 
has  never  had  leisure  to  acquire  the  most  elementary  educa- 
tion; often  he  has  passed  through  various  trades  before 
becoming  settled;  his  knowledge  is  in  proportion  to  his 
experience,  he  calculates,  and  when  he  wishes  good  men 
and  machinery,  he  pays  what  is  necessary  to  get  them. 
Intent  upon  his  own  affairs  and  not  those  of  others,  he  is 
in  this  respect  profoundly  individualistic;  and  while  this 
statement  does  not  necessarily  carry  a  reproach  with  it,  I 
must  admit  that  it  is  not  always  without  reason  that  he  is 
accused,  often  by  his  fellow  countrymen,  of  being  selfish 
and  hard  with  his  fellow  men.  He  performs  his  part  of  the 
labor  contract  and  expects  his  employees  to  perform  their 
part.  Then,  when  the  work  is  done  and  the  wages  paid,, 
employer  and  employees  consider  their  obligations  at  an 
end,  and  in  this  they  are  right  from  the  strictly  legal  stand- 
point. From  a  social  point  of  view  the  result  of  this  exag- 
gerated individualism  is  a  cessation  of  all  relations  between 
employer  and  employees  at  the  door  of  the  factory,  and 
institutions  founded  by  employers  for  the  benefit  of  their 
workmen  are  less  frequently  met  with  than  in  some  coun- 
tries of  Europe;  neither  class  regard  them  with  favor. 

VIII. 

The  explanation  is  found  in  the  great  independence  of 
American  workmen;  he  knows  that  he  is  the  political  equal 
of  his  employer  and  he  has  no  intention  of  subordinating 
himself  by  incurring  a  debt  of  gratitude.  He  is  in  the  work- 
shop by  virtue  of  a  business  transaction  and  he  does  not 


2  An  American  engineer  of  French  descent  told  me  that  it  seemed 
to  him  more  difficult  than  formerly  to  place  young  engineers  who 
had  graduated  from  the  universities,  because  they  are  less  tractable 
and  obedient  than  the  apprentices  of  former  days.  It  is  not  only 
in  America  that  comparisons  of  this  kind  are  made,  but  although 
there  are  plausible  arguments  on  both  sides,  I  feel  certain  that  a 
solid  theoretical  education  strengthens  and  broadens  the  horizon 
of  the  practical  workman,  and  that,  it  is  very  profitable  provided 
it  does  not  destroy  originality. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  445 

consider  the  personnel  as  a  family  group  of  which  the 
entrepreneur  should  be  the  patriarchal  head.  Moreover, 
he  moves  from  place  to  place  with  great  readiness,  accord- 
ing as  his  interests  lead  him.  This  is  at  least  the  most 
usual  type  of  native  Americans.  Various  types  are  found 
among  the  immigrants,  but  all  of  them  tend  to  become 
Americanized,  more  or  less  rapidly. 

IX. 

Immigration  causes  great  offense  to  the  laboring  classes. 
It  intensifies  the  competition  for  work,  and  by  continually 
increasing  the  supply  of  labor,  depresses  wages.  In  actual 
experience  it  has  not  produced  a  permanent  reduction  of 
the  general  rate  because  opposing  forces  are  always  at 
work,  but  it  has  certainly  counteracted  the  upward  tend- 
ency in  some  cases.  Taking  a  general  view  of  the  migra- 
tion from  Europe  to  America  in  the  last  hundred  years, 
one  recognizes  that  this  transfer  of  men,  knowledge  and 
capital  has  made  the  fortune  of  the  United  States,  so  that 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  workingmen  of  that  country 
are  indebted  to  immigration  for  their  superior  condition, 
they  have  no  cause  for  complaint. 

Excluding  Indians,  the  population  of  the  United  States 
is  composed  entirely  of  immigrants  and  the  descendants  of 
immigrants;  in  three-quarters  of  a  century,  1820-1895,  more 
than  seventeen  million  arrivals  were  registered.  The 
American  people  cannot  disown  their  origin  and  entirely 
exclude  immigrants. 

The  diverse  elements  of  the  population  have  been  fused 
in  an  Anglo-Saxon  mould.  For  many  years  the  American 
people  has  been  subjectively,  as  well  as  objectively,  a 
distinct  nation,  conscious  of  its  own  individuality,  proud 
of  its  progress  and  its  power,  vigorous  enough  to  absorb 
■gradually  the  flood  of  immigrants  who  seek  its  hospitality, 
refuting  by  its  very  existence  the  aphorism  of  Joseph  de 
Maistre:  "  Without  a  sovereign,  no  nation ;  without  a  nation, 
no  sovereign."  * 

'  Du  Pape,  vol.  ii. 


446  The  American  Laborer 

England,  Scotland  and  Germany  have  each  sent  a  large 
number  of  immigrants  who  are  generally  appreciated; 
Scandinavians  are  also  plentiful  and  well  liked;  the  Irish  are 
very  numerous,  but  in  general  regarded  with  a  little  less 
favor,  though  they  wield  a  powerful  influence  in  politics 
and  many  families  of  Irish  descent  occupy  high  positions; 
the  Italians  and  Slavs  are  in  the  greatest  disfavor,  and  it  is 
these  immigrants  in  particular  whom  the  American  work- 
men reproach  for  being  content  with  low  wages.  The 
Canadians  form  a  group  that  is  looked  upon  with  a  little 
suspicion  because  they  attempt  to  maintain  their  race  in- 
dividuality by  preserving  their  language  and  religion,  but 
the  employers  appreciate  their  competition  for  work  in  the 
factories. 

The  labor  party  demands  laws  restricting  immigration. 
The  immigration  of  Chinese  has  already  been  prohibited, 
although  they  are  good  workers;  but  the  Americans  can- 
not forgive  them  for  working  at  cut  rates.  Criminals  and 
persons  incapable  of  supporting  themselves  have  also  been 
debarred,  and  this  measure  had  the  support  of  all  enlight- 
ened people,  who  agreed  that  the  United  States  should  not 
be  made  the  dumping-ground  of  Europe.  In  the  face  of 
the  opposition  of  most  entrepreneurs,  the  labor  party 
secured  the  passage  of  a  law  prohibiting  the  importation 
of  labor  under  contract,  as  it  was  in  this  form  that  the 
organized  importation  of  "  cheap  labor  "  usually  took  place. 

X. 

Nominal  zvages  are  high  in  the  United  States,  as  they 
have  always  been  in  comparison  with  European  wages. 
They  have  risen  very  perceptibly,  perhaps  doubled,  in  the 
last  fifty  years,  although  a  similar  advance  has  been  made 
in  most  countries  of  Europe.  Labor  leaders  in  America 
are  divided  in  their  opinions  upon  this  point;  some  acknowl- 
edge the  advance  and  the  consequent  increase  of  comfort, 
and  they  argue  from  this  that  the  advance  ought  to  con- 
tinue; others — and  these  are  the  most  numerous  and  most 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  447 

hostile  to  the  existing  order  of  things — pretend  that  there 
has  been  a  decrease.  The  error  of  those  who  sincerely 
believe  there  has  been  a  decrease  is  partly  explained  by  the 
nominal  elevation  of  prices,  both  of  labor  and  merchandise, 
which  was  brought  about  after  the  Civil  War  by  the  use  of 
irredeemable  paper  money,  and  by  the  return  of  the  value 
of  money  to  its  normal  level  after  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments.  I  have  shown  that  this  fictitious  elevation,  far 
from  benefiting  the  workman,  in  reality  lowered  his  real 
wages.4  On  the  other  hand,  the  error  is  partly  explained 
by  real,  but  exceptional,  cases  of  reduction,  or  by  sudden 
and  temporary  reductions  in  times  of  crisis,  as,  for  instance, 
in  1893-94. 

If  the  misery  of  the  workingman  has  grown  in  the  last 
half-century,  it  must  be  terrible  to-day,  for  fifty  years  ago 
grevious  complaints  were  common.  "  Lamentable  as  is 
the  condition  of  the  laboring  man,  that  of  women  is  worse 
and  increasingly  so,"  announced  the  New  England  Work- 
ingmen's  Association,  founded  about  1845.  Fiye  years 
later  Horace  Greeley  said  at  a  meeting  of  printers  in  New 
York:  "  The  laboring  class,  as  a  class,  is  just  where  it  was 
when  I  came  here  eighteen  years  ago,  or,  if  anything,  in  a 
worse  condition."  5 

The  impression  brought  back  by  the  delegates  of  the 
Paris  unions  to  the  World's  Fair  was  equally  pessimistic, 
but  it  is  as  untrue  of  America  as  it  is  of  France:  "  In  a  few 
years,  in  our  opinion,  the  workingmen  of  the  new  world 
will  be  as  unhappy,  even  more  unhappy,  than  those  of  the 
old  world,  although  the  condition  of  the  latter  is  worse  than 
it  has  been  at  any  other  time  during  this  century."'  They 
are  wrong.  If  their  error  is  involuntary.  I  refer  them  to 
the  authorities  I  have  cited  in  the  chapter  on  the  wages  of 
men;'  if  it  is  intentional,  cast  abroad  as  a  firebrand  of 
revolution,  facts  are  powerless. 


4  See  ch.  ix.  "McNeill,  The  Labor  Movement,  pp.  100  and  117. 

'Rapport  de  la  Delegation  des  Syndicats  OuvrUrs  de  Paris  a  PEx 
position  de  Chicago,  p.  157.  7  Ch.  vi. 


448  The  American  Laborer 

Wages  have  a  very  extensive  range  in  the  United  States, 
varying  in  accordance  with  the  occupation,  and  in  any  given 
occupation,  in  accordance  with  the  work  and  ability  of  the 
individual  workman;  this  is  true  everywhere,  but  it  is  more 
applicable  to  the  United  States,  perhaps,  than  to  certain 
other  countries.  Most  wages  range  themselves  between 
those  of  spinners  and  weavers  who  earn  from  $i  to  $2  a 
day,  and  those  in  the  building  trades  which  vary  from  $2.50 
to  $4  a  day,  although  some  workmen  receive  less  than  $1 
and  others  more  than  $4;  certain  high-grade  workmen, 
steel-rollers  and  glass-workers  for  instance,  make  as  high 
as  $10  or  more  a  day.  It  would  not  be  far  wrong  to  state 
that  the  average  rate  is  somewhere  between  $1.75  and  $2, 
about  twice  as  much  as  the  average  rate  in  France,  so  far, 
at  least,  as  it  is  possible  to  assign  by  approximation  an 
average  rate  to  France. 

XL 

In  America,  as  in  Europe,  the  wages  of  ivomen  are  about 
half  those  of  men,  and  the  wages  of  children  under  sixteen 
less  than  the  wages  of  women.  The  inferior  physical 
strength  of  women,  the  fact  that  their  position  in  the  family 
causes  them  to  be  supported  in  a  large  degree  by  the  wages 
of  men,  and  the  competition  which  exists  in  the  restricted 
number  of  occupations  open  to  them,  are  the  three  prin- 
cipal causes  of  the  difference  noted.  In  America  married 
women  are  much  less  numerous  in  the  factories  than  in 
Europe,  a  fact  which  indicates  a  better  condition  of  things. 

There  has  been  a  decrease  in  the  relative  number  of 
female  employees  in  manufactures,  and  a  greater  decrease, 
apparently,  in  the  relative  number  of  children.  But  it  is 
incorrect  to  pretend  that  the  wages  of  women  amount 
simply  to  the  difference  between  the  present  wages  of  men 
and  what  they  would  receive  if  no  women  worked  for 
wages.  It  is  an  illusion  to  believe  that  the  father  or  hus- 
band is  alone  able  to  support  the  family,  and  it  would  be 
cruel  to  prevent  women,  either  by  legal  regulation  or  the 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  449 

tyranny  of  labor-unions,  from  earning  something  for  their 
own  support.  Adult  women  must  decide  for  themselves 
what  is  for  their  best  interest  in  this  matter.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  in  the  coming  generation  women  will  be  less 
eager  for  gainful  employment  than  at  present;  on  the  con- 
trary, I  am  led  to  believe  that  the  transformation  of  indus- 
trial methods  will  tend  to  multiply  occupations  for  women, 
in  manufactures  as  well  as  in  office  work. 

XII. 

Starvation  wages,  that  is  to  say,  wages  that  will  not  en- 
able the  recipient  to  live  as  well  as  the  common  laborer,  are 
found  in  America  as  well  as  in  Europe.  In  this  category 
may  be  placed  the  wage  of  sweatshop  workers,  who  are 
found  in  certain  great  cities  like  New  York,  Boston  and 
Cincinnati,  and  employed  principally,  but  not  exclusively, 
in  the  manufacture  of  ready-made  clothing.  In  face  of  the 
efforts  made  to  fight  it,  the  sweating  system  seems  to  have 
spread  rather  than  contracted,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
the  existing  conditions  of  industry  and  population  will 
develop  it  still  further,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  being  made  to 
restrict  it.  The  evil,  which  is  neither  clearly  defined,  nor 
clearly  definable,  fortunately  affects  only  a  small  part  of  the 
working  classes. 

XIII. 

Real  wages  have  risen  more  than  nominal  wages  in  the 
United  States,  because  the  prices  of  most  goods  fell  as 
wages  rose.  Retail  prices  have  fallen  much  less  than 
wholesale  prices,  and  rents  have  advanced,  so  that  the  net 
gain  to  the  laborer  has  been  considerably  less  than  that 
indicated  by  the  statistics  of  wholesale  prices;  but  there  has 
been  a  gain.  Taking  everything  into  consideration  except 
rents,  the  ordinary  objects  consumed  by  the  laborer's 
family,  quantities  and  qualities  the  same,  cost  rather  more 
in  France  than  in  America,  and  this  is  particularly  true  of 
Paris  as  compared  with  New  York.  In  consequence,  the 
30 


450  The  American  Laborer 

average  American  workman  enjoys  a  real  as  well  as  a  nominal 
income  which  is  probably  more  than  tzvice  as  great  as  that  of 
the  French  zvorkman. 

XIV. 

The  use  of  irredeemable  paper  money  during  and  after  the 
Civil  War  disturbed  values  and  for  a  time  confused  men's 
ideas  about  wages.  Wages  were  very  high,  in  appearance, 
and  workingmen  were  led  to  believe  that  the  general  reduc- 
tion which  followed  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  was 
real;  an  incorrect  idea,  or  at  least  incorrect  in  the  sense 
that  the  reduction  was  in  reality  due  to  the  great  crisis  of 
1873.  The  truth  is  that  during  that  period  the  working 
classes  actually  suffered  from  the  fictitious  inflation  of 
prices,8  which  advanced  much  more  than  wages,  and  they 
would  have  suffered  more  if  the  intense  industrial  activity 
of  the  period  1863-73  had  not  created  an  incessant  demand 
for  labor. 

XV. 

Real  wages  being  higher  in  the  United  States,  the  Ameri- 
can workman  lives  more  comfortably  than  the  European, 
certain  grades  of  English  labor  excepted.  He  has  acquired 
settled  habits  of  consumption  and  enjoyment;  his  food  is 
more  substantial  than  that  of  the  workman  of  continental 
Europe;  he  dresses  better;  he  is  more  comfortably  lodged, 
and  often  owns  the  house  in  which  he  lives;  he  insures  his 
life,  and  is  provident  in  his  own  way;  he  spends  more  for 

s  The  free  coinage  of  silver  would  produce  an  inflation  of  this 
kind.  Personal  interest  will  explain  why  the  owners  of  silver 
mines  advocate  it,  and  the  same  force  will  explain  why  debtors, 
particularly  mortgagers,  and  even  farmers  whose  products  would 
probably  be  among  the  first  to  increase  in  price,  are  in  favor  of 
it,  although  the  farmers  would  not  gain  as  much  by  it  as  they 
think.  But  it  is  hard  to  understand  how  workingmen.  whose  wages 
would  rise  only  after  the  great  mass  of  prices  had  risen,  are  led 
away  by  it.  The  probable  explanation  is  that  in  economic  ques- 
tions most  men  do  not  look  beneath  the  surface,  and  that  working- 
men  are  particularly  exposed  to  error  in  such  matters. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  451 

amusement  and  upon  the  societies  with  which  he  is  affili- 
ated: in  other  words  he  has  a  higher  standard  of  life  than 
the  European  workman.  Such  a  condition  is  one  of  the 
most  desirable  results  of  civilization,  and  the  American 
people  are  justly  proud  of  it. 

XVI. 

The  American  workman  spends  more  than  the  European 
because  his  wants  increase  in  proportion  to  his  income.  If 
the  American  makes  $2  a  day,  it  costs  him  nearly  that 
amount  to  live,  because  the  standard  of  living  of  his  class  is 
based  upon  this  scale.  He  is  obliged,  then,  to  spend  his  $2, 
because  the  wants  which  are  rooted  in  his  family  by  custom 
imperatively  demand  satisfaction  under  pain  of  personal  dis- 
comfort or  loss  of  social  position.  The  ambition  to  main- 
tain their  social  rank  and  to  live  as  well  as  their  peers  is 
universal  among  men.  From  this  point  of  view  it  is  correct 
to  say  that  the  cost  of  living  is  high  in  the  United  States, 
and  although  the  commercial  power  of  money — that  is,  the 
quantity  of  ordinary  consumables  purchasable  with  a  stated 
amount  of  money — is  as  great  as  it  is  in  Europe,  it  costs 
more  to  maintain  a  given  social  position  in  America  than 
it  does  in  Europe;  in  other  words,  the  social  power  of  money 
is  much  less. 

The  American  workman  has  raised  his  standard  of  life 
since  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  But  like  all 
men,  his  desire  to  acquire  the  comforts  he  does  not  have  is 
keener  than  his  appreciation  of  those  he  has,  and  he  aspires 
to  elevate  still  more  his  mode  of  living.  He  is  not  alone 
in  making  Excelsior  the  motto  of  his  life. 

XVII. 

One  of  the  questions  which  curious  or  restless  minds 
have  concerned  themselves  with  is  that  of  equality  in  the 
increase  of  comfort;9  the  question  whether  the  laborer  ought 


'  "  There  has  been  great  progress  in  the  intelligence  of  the  labor- 
ing classes,  and  political  equality  has  stimulated  the  desires  of  thr 


452  The  American  Laborer 

to  feel  satisfied  with  any  increase  of  wages  and  well-being, 
or  whether  he  should  not  have  the  right  of  complaining  if 
statistics  demonstrate  that  the  general  wealth  of  the  com- 
munity has  increased  more  rapidly  than  his  own  income. 

Morality  furnishes  the  first  reply  to  this  question:  it  is 
wrong  to  stir  up  envy  and  needless  recrimination  in  this 
way.  One  man  receives  a  gift  of  $1000  and  we  congratu- 
late him;  would  we  approve  if  we  found  him  growling  be- 
cause a  neighbor  had  received  $10,000  the  same  day?  An 
increase  in  the  income  of  any  class  of  society  should  be 
judged  upon  its  own  merits,  in  accordance  with  the  standard 
of  life  of  that  class,  not  some  other  class.  We  have  men- 
tioned the  fact  that  many  American  workingmen  own  their 
own  homes,  as  a  characteristic  sign  of  their  comfortable 
condition;  shall  these  proprietors  complain  that  their  houses 
are  not  to  be  compared  with  the  great  establishments  of  the 
millionaires?  And  if  this  comparison  does  not  occur  to 
the  workingman  himself,  do  we  render  him  a  service  by 
suggesting  it? 

The  statistician  has  great  difficulty  in  answering  ques- 
tions about  the  increase  of  wealth  because  he  rarely  pos- 
sesses a  series  of  national  inventories  sufficient  to  measure 
the  progress  of  fifty  years  and  furnish  the  numerator  of  a 
fraction  whose  denominator  would  be  the  whole  population. 
The  most  complete  and,  though  still  very  imperfect,  perhaps 
the  best  collection  of  these  rare  materials,  is  found  in  the 
United  States,  and  I  have  taken  from  them  the  figures 
necessary  for  such  a  comparison.10     We  know,  on  the  one 

masses  for  a  larger  share  of  material  riches.  The  means  of  pro- 
duction have  been  improved  in  a  marvellous  manner,  and  the  in- 
crease of  wealth  has  been  enormous.  The  question  the  laborer 
asks  is  not  simply  whether  he  receives  more  absolutely,  but 
whether  he  receives  as  much  in  proportion  to  what  the  other 
classes  of  society  enjoy.  His  wants  have  grown,  and  he  is  in- 
clined to  doubt  whether  he  is  as  well  able  to  gratify  his  legitimate 
needs  as  formerly."  R.  T.  Ery,  The  Labor  Movement  in  America, 
P.  304. 

10  As  an  example  of  the  errors  which  are  so  easily  made  in  deal- 
ing with  these  statistics,   I   may  cite  a  calculation   made  by   Mr. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  453 

hand,  that  the  average  annual  earnings  "  of  persons  em- 
ployed in  manufactures  was  $247  in  1850  and  $484  in  1890 
— a  gain  of  100  per  cent  in  forty  years  12 — while  the  more 
comparable  returns  of  1870  and  1890  show  a  gain  of  29  per 
cent  in  these  twenty  years.13  On  the  other  hand,  we  know 
that  the  value  of  real  and  personal  property  per  capita  was 
$303  in  1850,  $780  in  1870,  and  $1036  in  1890,  from  which 
it  follows  that  the  per  capita  valuation  tripled  from  1850  to 
1890,  and  increased  nearly  33  per  cent  from  1870  to  1890. 
We  also  know  that  the  aggregate  value  of  the  products  of 
mines,  fisheries,  manufactures  and  agriculture  was  $44  per 
capita  in  1850,14  $177  in  1870,  and  $194  in  1890,  an  increase 
of  about  10  per  cent  from  1870  to  1890.  Although  the 
statistics  are  not  accurate  enough  to  furnish  exact  numer- 
ical comparisons,  the  relation  between  the  several  rates  of 
increase — 29  per  cent  for  wages,  33  per  cent  for  property, 
and  10  per  cent  for  production — show  that  the  laborer  has 
not  shared  so  badly  as  some  would  have  him  believe." 


Powderly  (The  Labor  Movement,  edited  by  McNeill,  p.  579)  in  which 
he  estimates  the  profits  of  employers  by  subtracting  from  the 
total  value  of  products,  the  cost  of  materials  plus  total  wages.  The 
result,  according  to  the  census  of  1880,  is  $1,024,791,847,  and  Mr. 
Powderly  accuses  the  employers  of  receiving  enormous  profits  in 
comparison  with  the  wages  paid— $947,953795-  There  is  probably 
no  economist,  as  there  is  no  business  man,  who  does  not  know 
that  other  elements  beside  wages  and  the  cost  of  materials  enter 
into  the  expenses  of  production. 

11  Obtained  by  dividing  total  wages  by  the  whole  number  of 
employees — male  and  female  operatives,  children,  office  employees, 
superintendents,  etc. 

12  See  ch.  vi  and  the  reservations  made  with  respect  to  the 
accuracy  of  these  statistics. 

13  $375  in  1870;  $484  in  1890. 

"This  result  is  not  comparable  with  the  others,  as  the  value  of 
agricultural  products  is  not  included. 

15  In  France  statisticians  have  figured  out  an  answer  to  this 
problem  from  the  official  records  of  bequests  and  gifts  inter  vivos, 
which  were  estimated  at  about  two  thousand  millions  in  1840  and 
about  six  thousand  millions  for  each  year  1885-95,  corresponding 
thus  to  a  relative  income  of  100  in  1840  (interest  at  5  per  cent) 
and  210  in  1885-95  (interest  at  3ZA  per  cent).  They  conclude  that 
if  wages  doubled  in  the  interval,  the  income  from  real  and  personal 


454  The  American  Laborer 

These  percentages  do  not  tell  the  whole  story,  because 
there  are  certain  essential  elements  which  elude  measure- 
ment. Modern  invention,  democratic  institutions,  and  the 
development  of  highways  and  public  works  make  certain 
pleasures  far  more  accessible  to  everybody,  or  to  nearly 
everybody,  rich  or  poor,  than  they  were  formerly.  In  the 
United  States,  for  example,  the  public  schools  are  free,  the 
public  lights,  gas  or  electric,  shine  indiscriminately  for  rich 
and  poor,  in  the  cities  most  people  have  water  in  their 
houses,  the  street  cars  and  railroads  carry  with  equal  speed 
the  laborer  who  used  to  walk  and  the  employer  who  in 
former  times  rode  on  his  horse  or  in  his  carriage.  I  have 
dwelt  upon  these  advantages  in  my  work  La  Population 
Francaise;™  I  merely  wish  to  call  attention  to  them  here. 

There  is  one  other  illusion  which  it  is  necessary  to  dispel. 
A  great  deal  is  said  about  the  right  of  the  laborer  to  a  pro- 
portional part  of  the  increase  of  wealth,  on  the  ground  that 
his  labor  created  it.  The  workman  who  gives  his  time  and 
labor  for  a  stipulated  wage  receives  more  to-day  than  form- 
erly for  less  labor-time  and  for  work  that,  owing  to  the  use 
of  machinery,  has  certainly  not  become  more  painful.  And 
yet,  with  certain  exceptions,  he  has  no  definite  and  particular 
share  in  the  increase  of  wealth  produced  in  a  given  time; 
he  may  possess  a  certain  skill,  but  so  did  his  forefathers: 
he  may  have  better  tools,  but  they  were  furnished  to  him; 
he  has  even  learned  to  protest  against  the  introduction  of 
new  machinery.  He  is  an  executive  agent  working  with 
his  muscles  as  his  fathers  did  a  hundred  years  ago,  but 
working  with  better  materials,  and  in  consequence  needing 
greater  knowledge  and  intelligence. 


property  more  than  doubled.  If  their  calculation  were  sound,  the 
difference  would  not  be  considerable.  But  in  this  form  the  calcu- 
lation is  misleading,  since  in  order  to  compare  the  two  terms  it  is 
necessary  to  multiply  the  rate  of  wages  at  each  epoch  by  the 
number  of  wage-earners.  We  do  not  know  the  number  of  wage- 
earners  in  1840,  but  we  do  know  that  it  was  much  less  than  the 
present  number  and  that  in  consequence  the  comparison  should 
be  more  favorable  to  wages. 

10  Vol.  iii.  ch.  iii,  La  Population  et  la  Richesse. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  455 

It  would  be  an  error  to  infer  from  the  above  that  the 
personal  qualities  of  the  workman  contribute  nothing  to  the 
success  of  the  work.  I  have  spoken  of  these  moral  and 
professional  qualities  in  several  passages  of  this  work;  they 
are  characteristic  of  the  American  workman  and  form  one 
of  the  most  important  factors  in  the  productivity  of  Ameri- 
can labor.  I  never  fail  to  emphasize  the  importance  of 
these  qualities  in  my  lectures  at  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts 
et  Metiers,  where  my  audience  is  composed  largely  of  work- 
men, for  I  am  convinced  that  they  are  as  efficacious  in  pro- 
ducing harmony  in  the  workshop  as  in  augmenting  the 
production  of  wealth,  and  I  believe  it  both  just  to  the  work- 
men and  profitable  to  industry  to  reward  them  either  by 
increased  wages,  premiums  or  profit-sharing. 

But  it  is  no  less  true  that  the  increase  in  productivity  is 
primarily  due  to  scientific  discoveries  and  the  application  of 
science  to  industry.  The  inventors  do  not  always  reap  the 
profits,  although  many  secure  a  legitimate  recompense  by 
exploiting  their  inventions,  which  may  or  may  not  be  pat- 
ented. But  after  a  certain  time  these  inventions  come  to 
be  public  property,  their  principal  effect  having  been  to 
lower  the  cost  of  production  and  render  wealth  more  acces- 
sible to  the  consumer.  Such  in  short  is  the  role  of  intelli- 
gence in  production." 

Next  to  the  inventor,  credit  must  be  given  to  the  entre- 
preneur for  the  increase  in  productivity.  The  technical 
organization  and  commercial  management  of  an  industry 
are  essential  conditions  of  economic  production  and  of  the 
advantageous  placing  of  the  product;  they  determine  in  a 
large  degree  the  success  or  failure  of  the  enterprise,  and, 
although  the  present  ten-hour  day  is  no  harder  upon  the 
laborer  than  the  old  twelve-hour  day,  the  entrepreneur 
works  harder  and  deserves  more  credit  when  with  his  heavy 
load  of  responsibility  he  directs  a  thousand  workmen  than 
when  he  had  only  ten  to  look  after.     One  entrepreneur 


17 1  explained  this   for  the  first  time   in  he  Role  dt  V Intelligence 
dans  la  Production,  published  in  1866-67.     See  also  ch.  viii. 


456  Tlie  American  Laborer 

grows  rich  while  his  competitors,  with  capital  and  labor 
secured  under  exactly  similar  conditions,  stagnate  or  fail, 
and  the  difference  in  results  can  be  attributed  only  to  the 
difference  in  personalities.  The  socialists,  who  try  to  flatter 
the  workman  by  telling  him  that  he  is  the  sole  creator  of 
value  and  wealth,  turn  his  back  squarely  upon  the  truth. 

Mr.  Gunton  substitutes  another  question,  without  going 
beyond  the  subject,  however,  when  he  defends  in  place  of 
right  to  the  product  based  upon  economic  grounds,  the 
opportunity  for  enjoyment  based  upon  the  social  interest. 
"  It  is  a  fundamental  law  in  all  growth,"  he  says,  "  that  it 
should  be  symmetrical.  The  top  of  anything  cannot  con- 
tinue to  increase  in  extent  and  power  without  the  bottom 
being  correspondingly  strengthened  and  enlarged.15  So  it 
is  with  society.  No  portion  of  it  can  continuously  improve 
without  the  progress  of  the  whole.  Consequently,  the  in- 
creased wealth,  opportunity  and  freedom  of  the  '  successful 
classes '  can  only  be  permanently  secured  to  them  in  pro- 
portion as  the  poverty  of  the  masses  is  diminished  and  their 
social  opportunities  and  freedom  are  enlarged." '  He  may 
reassure  himself,  not  of  the  acquiescence  of  the  masses  in 
the  conclusions  we  hold,  but  of  the  truth  of  the  fact  that 
except  in  the  lowest  depths  of  society  poverty  has  decreased 
and  certain  advantages  of  life  and  liberty  have  increased,  in 
America,  perhaps,  more  than  elsewhere. 

Is  there,  then,  nothing  further  to  be  done?  There  is 
much  to  be  done.  I  shall  return  to  this  question  further  on. 
I  may  affirm  here  that  the  amelioration  of  the  lot  of  the 
masses  is  one  of  the  most  desirable  results  of  civilization. 

In  recapitulation  it  may  be  said  that:  (i)  It  is  wrong 
to  make  ourselves  unhappy  and  lose  all  enjoyment  of 
our  own  blessings,  because  some  neighbor  is  more  highly 
blest:   such   envy   is   an   injury  to   civilization   and   prog- 


"  This  statement  is  correct  when  applied  to  a  democratic  society, 
but  has  less  application  to  an  aristocratic  one.  I  have  expressed 
my  opinion  upon  this  point  in  La  Population  Francaise,  vol.  iii,  p.  98 

18  Ji'ealth  and  Progress,  p.  4. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  457 

ress;  (2)  it  has  not  been  demonstrated  that  during  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  proportional  increase  of  the  income  of 
the  laboring  class  has  been  less  than  that  of  most  other 
classes  of  society;  (3)  modern  inventions  have  procured 
certain  advantages  which  are  enjoyed  in  common  by  all  the 
inhabitants  of  a  given  locality,  whatever  their  social  condi- 
tion; (4)  the  special  contribution  of  manual  labor  in  the 
production  of  wealth  is  no  greater  to-day  than  formerly, 
although  this  production  is  much  more  abundant;  (5)  the 
benefit  which  the  progress  of  industry  and  wealth  has 
brought  to  the  laborer  is  manifested  in  the  elevation  of  his 
standard  of  living. 

XVIII. 

The  social  classes  of  any  country  are  often  ignorant  of 
one  another,  just  as  nations  misunderstand  and  harbor 
prejudices  against  one  another.  While  it  is  improper  to 
speak  of  classes,  at  least  of  class  barriers,  in  America,  the 
employers  are  disposed  to  judge  harshly  of  their  workmen, 
as  indeed,  the  workmen  are  of  their  employers.  Although 
the  material  life  of  the  laboring  classes  is  inferior  to  that  of 
the  well-to-do  in  the  extent  and  refinement  of  consumption, 
and  their  intellectual  life  narrower  because  of  early  training 
and  the  character  of  their  amusements  and  environment, 
their  moral  life,  though  often  circumscribed  in  a  still  nar- 
rower compass,  is  not  essentially  different.  In  his  reason 
and  his  ideas,  his  interests  and  his  prejudices,  his  feelings 
and  passions  that  are  made  up  of  generosity  and  selfish- 
ness, we  find  man  essentially  the  same  in  all  conditions  of 
life. 

XIX. 

Man  is  animated  by  two  sets  of  feelings,  the  one  indi- 
vidualistic, the  other  social;  the  former  inspired  by  his 
egoism  and  personal  interests,  the  latter  by  his  sympathy 
and  his  weakness.  The  isolated  workman  finds  himself 
very  feeble  before  the  difficulties  of  life  and  particularly  in 
contests  with  employers  over  the  construction  of  his  labor- 


458  The  American  Laborer 

contract.  His  need  of  association  is  greater  than  that  of 
the  higher  classes,  yet  nevertheless  it  is  more  difficult  of 
accomplishment  for  him  because  his  education  and  pecu- 
niary resources  are  less,  and  the  large  number  of  members 
which  it  is  usually  necessary  to  combine  in  order  to  form 
a  union,  increase  the  chances  of  discord  and  dissolution. 

Labor  organizations  have  two  principal  objects,  insur- 
ance and  resistance,  the  first  assuring  by  cooperation  the 
payment  of  a  sum  of  money  in  case  of  death,  sickness  or 
old  age;  the  second  opposing  the  power  of  numbers  against 
the  power  of  the  employers;  at  present  the  second  object 
is  often  of  first  importance  in  American  unions.  Historic- 
ally, these  organizations  date  back  many  years,  but  it  is 
only  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  that  they  have  spread 
so  widely  through  the  ranks  of  labor  and  assumed  a  political 
importance. 

Provident  societies  bring  to  the  workman's  family  a  certain 
material  security  and  give  him  a  proper  sense  of  social 
relations;  they  are  most  commendable.  Under  the  titles  of 
Mutual  Benefit  Societies,  Sick  and  Funeral  Benefit  Socie- 
ties, Endowment  Societies,  etc.,  and  with  diverse  forms  and 
varying  degrees  of  solidity,  they  are  encountered  in  great 
numbers  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  particularly  in 
the  manufacturing  districts.  All  of  these  are  not  labor 
organizations  by  any  means,  but  workmen  are  found  in 
most  of  them,  and  some  are  composed  exclusively  of  work- 
men. A  very  good  type  of  these  associations,  and  one  of 
the  most  popular,  is  the  Loan  and  Building  Association,  to 
which  I  have  devoted  one  chapter  of  the  L'Ouvrier  Ameri- 
ca in™  While  on  the  whole  these  associations  are  worthy  of 
great  praise,  one  necessarily  feels  uneasy  at  times  over  the 
management  of  some  of  them,  because  the  workingman 
rarely  has  the  time  and  ability  to  exercise  effective  super- 
vision over  them  and  he  runs  the  risk  of  being  swindled  by 
managers  who  arc  faithless  or  incompetent  or  excessively 

M  See  ch.  iv,  part  ii. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  459 

careful  of  their  personal  importance  and  profit.  Yet  a  great 
majority  of  these  societies  thrive,  and  association  in  itself 
is  a  profitable  education  in  democracy;  in  any  event  the 
American  people  have  profited  by  it. 

The  union  almost  always  has  the  dual  object  of  insurance 
and  resistance;  this  is  why  I  have  not  separated  the  two 
subjects.  It  is  in  part  of  spontaneous  generation,  a  result 
of  popular  freedom;  in  part  it  is  of  English,  and  in  a  smaller 
degree,  of  German  origin,  the  German  union  being  more 
strongly  impregnated  with  socialistic  theories  than  the  Eng- 
lish, Unions  have  multiplied  rapidly,  especially  since  1880, 
so  that  now  they  are  numbered  by  the  thousand,  some  of 
them  very  powerful;  a  dozen  unions  or  more  claim  member- 
ship of  more  than  20,000.  In  addition,  huge  federations 
have  been  formed.  The  Order  of  the  Knights  of  Labor 
was  modelled  on  Masonic  lines  and  still  remains  in  part  a 
secret  order.  At  one  time  it  claimed  to  be  uniting  the 
laboring  classes  for  the  conquest  of  society  by  means  of 
political  control  and  a  cooperative  organization  of  produc- 
tion and  consumption.  In  1880  it  counted  its  members  by 
the  hundred  thousands,  but  it  has  lost  its  standing  through 
failure  to  accomplish  what  it  promised  and  by  having  an- 
tagonized the  local  unions.  The  place  in  the  popular  favor 
formerly  held  by  the  Knights  has  been  taken  by  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor,  which  with  more  discretion  at- 
tempts to  combine  the  unions  without  encroaching  upon 
their  independence.  The  American  Railway  Union, 
organized  in  the  midst  of  the  troubles  of  1893,  and  at  its 
very  formation  cast  into  a  violent  struggle,  occupies  a 
position  of  but  mediocre  importance. 

I  have  pointed  out  both  the  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  labor-unions.21  The  former  consist  of  the  aid  which 
members  render  one  another  as  men  and  the  power  of 
organization  to  serve  their  interests  as  wage-earners. 
American  unions  pride  themselves  upon  being  the  cause  of 

M  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  ch.  ix,  part  i,  and  ch.  v.  part  iii. 


4G0  The  American  Laborer 

the  rise  of  wages,  and  although  this  claim  is  too  pretentious, 
they  have  unquestionably  played  a  prominent  part  in  secur- 
ing certain  advances.  The  disadvantages  consist  of  their 
efforts  to  monopolize  the  labor  market,  physical  and 
moral  violence  towards  employers  and  non-unionist  labor- 
ers, and  chimerical  ideas  of  social  transformation  which 
they  entertain  in  proportion  as  they  approach  "  New- 
unionism  "  and  are  or  are  not  of  recent  formation.  In  their 
relations  with  employers  workmen  are  very  jealous  of  their 
independence,  but  as  unionists  they  submissively  accept 
the  absolute  power  of  the  leaders  and  instantly  abandon 
their  work  and  livelihood  when  the  order  is  given;  such  is 
their  faith.  In  the  larger  organizations  particularly,  the 
leaders  pride  themselves  upon  being  moderators  and  heal- 
ers of  differences,  but  in  reality,  and  especially  in  the  local 
unions,  they  are  often  firebrands  and  agitators  both  by 
temperament  and  policy,  continually  awaiting  the  oppor- 
tunity for  an  assault  upon  capital. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  a  state  of  civil  war  exists  in 
the  industrial  world  and  that  most  labor  organizations  are, 
as  institutions  of  resistance,  mere  armed  bands  ready  to 
take  the  field.  The  employers'  associations  make  less  noise, 
but  they  are  no  less  strongly  armed;  trusts  flourish  in  the 
United  States.  It  seems  almost  idle  to  repeat  that  this 
condition  results  from  misunderstanding,  that  between  the 
purchaser  and  vendor  of  labor  there  is  not  opposition  but 
community  of  interests,  and  that  the  three  agents  of  pro- 
duction have  the  same  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  industry 
— the  common  source  of  the  income  of  each.  The  state  of 
war  exists,  and  the  associations  of  workmen  and  employers 
contribute  to  render  it  more  threatening. 

Does  the  development  of  these  associations  mean  a  per- 
manent and  organized  antagonism?  Such  a  prospect 
almost  inspires  regret  for  the  disappearance  of  the  medi- 
aeval trade-gild,  in  which  master  and  workman  were  united, 
although  with  a  rigid  subordination  of  the  workmen  which 
the  democratic  spirit  of  our  times  would  not  tolerate,  and 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  461 

with  more  or  less  monopoly  which  has  been  advantageously- 
replaced  by  liberty.  Is  it  possible  that  the  future  will  see 
mixed  organizations  of  employers  and  employees  freely  and 
voluntarily  formed,  thus  retaining  the  advantages  of  free 
contract  without  the  disadvantages  of  the  ancient  gild? 
I  desire  it  more  than  I  dare  hope  for  it.  The  American 
Federation  of  Labor  disapproves  of  such  coalition. 

And  yet,  association  is  a  right  and  the  labor-union  has 
become  a  fact  against  which  it  would  be  both  narrow  and 
untimely  to  protest.  In  England  the  labor  union  is  already 
more  than  a  half-century  old,  while  in  France  and  America 
it  is  of  more  recent  introduction;  its  development  consti- 
tutes a  landmark  and  inaugurates  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  the  working  classes.  In  America,  where  they  are  in- 
creasing both  in  number  and  power,  their  growth  has  been 
stimulated  by  the  democratic  spirit  and  by  the  high  wages 
which  makes  it  possible  to  sustain  them.  Many  large  estab- 
lishments will  not  employ  union  workmen  and  refuse  to 
treat  with  the  unions.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many 
employers,  particularly  in  the  building  trades,  who  have 
treated  with  them  and  even  contracted  to  employ  none  but 
umon  workmen.  Except  in  the  cities,  the  unions  have  not 
as  yet  succeeded  in  drawing  into  their  ranks  the  majority 
of  workmen;  but  as  their  animosity,  against  what  they  call 
the  exploitation  of  man  by  capital,  is  active  and  noisy,  they 
attract  attention  and  appear  more  numerous  than  they  really 
are. 

The  union  must  be  allowed  to  exist.  To  control  the  situ- 
ation, in  my  opinion,  it  is  even  advisable  to  legalize  it  in 
every  American  state;  but  at  the  same  time  the  law  must 
impose  conditions  that  will  make  the  union  responsible 
and  prevent  it,  as  far  as  possible,  from  degenerating  into  an 
instrument  of  oppression  either  of  workmen  or  employers. 
Freedom  for  all,  coupled  with  effective  responsibility  before 
the  law  and  public  opinion;  this  is,  I  think,  the  double  rule 
we  should  adopt. 


4G2  The  American  Laborer 

XX. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  union  has  fostered  the  strike 
and  increased  its  power.  The  strike  is  open  war.  In  many- 
cases  it  occurs  suddenly  and  without  preliminary  negotia- 
tions, but  more  often  it  follows  the  rejection  of  conditions 
proposed  by  a  group  of  workmen.  The  strike  is  as  old  as 
the  wage-earner,  but  it  has  only  become  epidemic  since  the 
development  of  the  factory  and  the  formation  of  great  labor- 
organizations.  It  might  be  said,  in  addition,  that  the  social- 
istic or  revolutionary  propaganda  has  multiplied  strikes  by 
stirring  up  class  hatred. 

In  the  past  it  was  an  incident;  it  has  now  become,  so 
to  speak,  a  social  system,  characterized  by  Mr.  McNeill, 
the  editor  of  The  Labor  Movement  in  the  following  terms: 
"  The  problem  of  to-day,  as  of  yesterday  and  to-morrow,  is, 
how  to  establish  equity  between  men.  The  laborer  who 
is  forced  to  sell  his  day's  labor  to-day,  or  starve  to-morrow, 
is  not  in  equitable  relations  with  the  employer  who  can 
wait  to  buy  labor  until  starvation  fixes  the  rates  of  wages 
and  hours  of  time.  The  labor  movement  is  the  natural 
effort  of  readjustment — an  ever-continued  attempt  of 
organized  laborers,  so  that  they  may  withhold  their  labor 
until  the  diminished  interest  or  profit  or  capital  of  the 
employer  shall  compel  him  to  agree  to  such  terms  as  shall 
be  for  the  time  measurably  equitable."  **  It  would  be  super- 
fluous to  refute  once  more  the  economic  error  and  ill- 
concealed  insinuation  of  the  first  sentence.  I  cite  the 
passage  merely  to  show  that  the  labor  party  regards  resist- 
ance and  the  strike  almost  as  sacred  duties. 

Carroll  D.  Wright  has  said,  and  justly,  that  the  responsi- 
bility for  strikes  cannot  always  be  placed  upon  the  laborer, 
as  they  are  caused  by  the  refusals  of  employers  as  well  as 
by  the  pretentions  of  employees;  and  he  adds  that  the  com- 
munity of  interest  which  characterizes  production  does  not 
exist  in  distribution,  where  one  factor  loses  what  the  other 

"  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  454. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  463 

gains.  I  might  add,  in  turn,  that  after  the  stipulated  wages 
are  paid,  the  laborer  has  no  claim  upon  the  profits  of  the 
entrepreneur,  whatever  they  may  be,  just  as  the  entre- 
preneur has  no  right  of  recovery  upon  the  wages  he  has 
paid,  when  his  operations  result  in  a  loss.  When  the  con- 
tract expires  the  laborer  is  entirely  free  to  refuse  to  renew 
it,  and  to  unite  with  his  fellow  laborers  in  a  strike  or  other 
combination  to  obtain  better,  or  defeat  the  acceptance  of 
worse,  conditions.  But  it  is  wrong  to  consider  him  as  a 
rightful  member  of  the  establishment  in  temporary  revolt, 
and  he  is  wrong  when  he  acts  as  such.  He  is  a  simple 
workman  who  has  become  a  stranger  to  the  establishment 
by  the  severance  of  his  contract. 

But  is  the  strike  profitable  tc  the  working-classes?  A 
general  study  covering  ten  years,  which  has  been  made  in 
America,  shows  that  in  forty-five  cases  out  of  a  hundred 
the  strike  resulted  in  a  gain  to  the  workmen.  This  propor- 
tion is  very  high,  almost  double  that  resulting  from  similar 
statistics  in  France  and  England.  But  the  striker  is  like  the 
gambler,  who  always  hopes  that  chance  will  work  out  in 
his  favor;  led  on  by  his  passions  and  encouraged  by  leaders 
who  promise  much  more  successful  results,  he  risks  the 
throw.  If  he  fails,  the  time  missed  and  the  extra  expenses 
are  dead  losses  to  him;  if  he  wins,  it  is  still  some  time 
before  the  extra  advantage  compensates  for  the  expense 
incurred. 

Like  war,  the  strike  is  an  inherent  evil,  whatever  its 
result.  It  is  hurtful  to  industry,  causes  millions  of  dollars 
to  be  wasted  every  year,  and  its  mere  appearance  may  send 
into  hiding  large  sums  of  money  which  in  times  of  industrial 
peace  would  have  been  invested  in  production.  And  yet, 
like  war,  the  strike  is  relatively  a  rare  occurrence,  and  in  a 
country  like  the  United  States  involves  only  a  small  part 
of  the  laboring  population  in  any  one  year.  To  the  work- 
man the  strike  is  a  weapon  both  of  offense  and  defense, 
and  in  the  present  state  of  affairs  and  of  public  sentiment, 
there  is  no  power  which  can  prevent  its  use. 


464  The  American  Laborer 

To  the  conservative  workman  it  is  impossible  to  demon- 
strate that  the  laborer  always  loses  by  the  strike,  since  there 
are  times  when  he  gains  by  it.  And  with  the  more  violent 
it  is  useless  to  make  the  attempt,  since  they  count  upon 
such  agitation  and  the  destruction  of  industry  to  hasten 
social  revolution. 

In  America  and  England  the  admission  by  the  courts  of 
the  legality  of  combination  has  been  very  gradual.  To- 
day it  is  denied  by  none,  although  the  effects  of  the  strike 
are  denounced  as  extremely  unfortunate.  Combination  is 
in  fact  free  and  the  courts  do  not  attempt  to  penalize  it  ex- 
cept in  cases  of  actual  or  threatened  violence  towards  prop- 
erty or  persons.  It  is  often  difficult  to  determine  where 
violence  begins,  but  it  is  very  necessary  that  the  responsi- 
bility of  those  who  instigate  and  of  those  who  participate  in 
strikes  should  be  clearly  established,  and  that  in  the  interests 
of  those  who  wish  to  work  as  well  as  of  industrial  peace,  no 
one  should  be  constrained  either  to  engage  or  persist  in  a 
strike  against  his  will. 

XXI. 

The  liberty  to  combine  being  accepted  as  a  right  and  as 
a  necessity,  and  the  union  maintaining  a  permanent  oppo- 
sition to  the  employer,  the  most  practical  remedies  for  the 
prevention  and  cure  of  the  strike  seem  to  be  arbitration  and 
conciliation. 

It  is  important  to  distinguish  between  compulsory  and 
voluntary  arbitration.  The  former,  by  coercing  workmen 
and  employers  to  pay  or  accept  certain  rates  or  to  accom- 
plish certain  tasks,  would  bring  both  industry  and  labor 
beneath  the  yoke  of  a  judicial  despotism.  It  is  repugnant 
to  employers  because  in  the  substitution  of  the  public 
authority  for  the  free  disposition  of  the  means  of  produc- 
tion by  their  owners,  they  see  an  element  of  confiscation; 
but  for  this  very  reason  it  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
cherished  ideals  of  the  labor  party. 

Voluntary  arbitration  does   not   have  this   inherent  vice. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  465 

Essentially  liberal  in  origin,  it  would  undoubtedly  have  a 
pacifying  effect  if  it  came  into  more  general  use.  It  may 
assume  many  forms:  that  of  a  court  of  arbiters  selected  by 
the  contending  parties  when  a  difficulty  arises,  or  of  a  per- 
manent bureau  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  upon  which 
both  interested  parties  would  be  represented.  Between 
1886  and  1895  the  federal  government  and  fifteen  states 
passed  laws  creating,  or  authorizing  the  creation,  of  such 
institutions,  some  of  which  respected  individual  liberty, 
while  others  authorized  more  or  less  administrative  inter- 
ference, and  one  at  least  rested  entirely  upon  the  principle 
of  compulsion. 

But  up  to  the  present  time  custom  has  not  taken  kindly 
to  this  form  of  regulation;  arbitration  has  been  requested 
in  only  a  comparatively  limited  number  of  cases,  and  the 
number  of  disputes  settled  by  arbitration  is  still  more 
limited.  With  the  workmen,  it  seems,  arbitration  is  a  last 
resort,  to  be  used  only  when  the  strike  becomes  ineffective, 
and  it  is  certain  that  the  employers  will  not  permit  outside 
parties  to  dictate  a  settlement  which  is  manifestly  opposed 
to  their  interests.  Our  experience  with  arbitration  and 
conciliation  is  very  recent,  but  it  indicates  that,  however 
desirable  they  may  be,  their  application  is  beset  with  serious 
obstacles,  not  only  in  the  prejudices  of  workmen  and  em- 
ployers, but  in  the  very  nature  of  industrial  relations. 

XXII. 

To  unite  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  the  concentrated 
power  of  capital  with  the  collective  power  of  organized 
labor  is  legitimate;  it  is  a  right  that  has  been  sanctioned 
by  law  and  custom.  Does  it  follow  that  there  is  a  neces- 
sary conflict  of  interests  between  employer  and  employee? 
In  this  debate  two  opposing  tendencies  of  thought  have 
manifested  themselves  in  Europe  and  America.  The 
economists,  Bastiat  in  particular,  emphasize  the  harmony 
of  interests:  and  there  is  a  harmony  of  interests,  since  both 
workmen  and  employers  live  by  production.  The  socialists 
31 


4GG  The  American  Laborer 

emphasize  the  conflict  of  interests,  and  this  manifests  its  real 
existence  in  the  disputes  over  the  distribution  of  the  pro- 
duct. But  when  the  facts  are  dispassionately  examined  it 
becomes  apparent  that  in  a  great  majority  of  cases  the 
conflict  is  occasioned  by  passion  and  prejudice  rather  than 
by  a  rational  self-interest.  To  say,  as  I  read  in  one  of  the 
journals  of  the  labor  party,23  that  the  pretended  harmony 
which  is  used  to  justify  the  economic  brigandage  known 
as  the  wage-system,  does  not  differ  from  the  harmony  be- 
tween the  serpent  and  the  bird  that  he  fascinates  in  order 
to  devour,  is  merely  a  proof  that  the  speaker  has  not 
studied  the  problem  and  that,  in  order  to  be  free  to  scatter 
the  seeds  of  hatred,  he  does  not  wish  to  study  it. 

The  "  struggle  for  life  "  is  a  phrase  that  has,  unfortu- 
nately, won  general  acceptance.  By  creating  the  impres- 
sion that  the  individual  thrives  at  the  expense  of  others  and 
that  it  is  necessary  to  vanquish  or  be  vanquished  in  the 
contest  of  existence,  it  gives  a  misleading  idea  of  the  social 
and  economic  movement.  Men's  interests  are  more  often 
harmonious  than  antagonistic,  and  although  the  highest 
places  are  ordinarily  to  be  secured  only  by  the  exercise  of 
energy  and  intellect,  it  is  more  fitting  to  speak  of  a  race 
over  the  course  of  life  than  of  a  struggle  for  mere  existence. 

XXIII. 

I  should  not  have  felt  called  upon  to  speak  of  the  pro- 
tect ire  system  were  it  not  for  the  noisy  election  claim  that 
protection  benefits  both  wage-earner  and  producer:  the 
former  by  increasing  wages,  the  latter  by  increasing  prices. 
It  is  somewhat  singular  that  employers  who  denounce  the 
adjustment  of  wages  by  arbitration  as  a  violation  of  right 
should  boast  of  increasing  them  by  law.  Moreover  it  is 
not  certain  that  wages  are  increased  by  protection.  Some 
of  the  protected  industries  pay  high  wages,  like  the  steel 
industry:  while  others  pay  low  wages,  like  the  cotton  in- 


23  The  American  Federationist,  March,  1895. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  467 

dustry;  and  moreover,  one  does  not  find  the  same  kind  of 
labor,  carpentering  or  manual  labor  for  instance,  receiving 
higher  wages  in  protected  than  in  unprotected  industries. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  customs  duties  were  lowered 
certain  establishments  would  close  and  that  profits  would 
be  temporarily  reduced  in  almost  every  industry.  Some 
workmen  would  perhaps  be  thrown  out  of  work,  but  if  the 
general  wealth  of  the  country  was  not  affected  by  the 
change,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  wages  of  the  lower  grades 
would  fall  still  lower. 

I  have  shown  that  wages  are  not  necessarily  determined 
by  the  price  of  the  product,  a  good  proof  of  which  is  the 
fact  that  farm-wages  rose  while  the  value  of  agricultural 
products  fell. 

XXIV. 

I  have  spoken  only  incidentally  of  public  charity  in  the 
United  States,  which  is  organized  in  accordance  with  the 
Anglo-Saxon  system,  and  of  private  charity,  which  in  form 
and  function  is  varied  and  ingenious,  and  in  individual 
cases  very  liberally  endowed.  Charity  is  a  necessity  that 
becomes  more  obligatory  as  society  grows  wealthier  or 
more  able  to  furnish  it,  and  as  the  activity  of  the  industrial 
movement  causes  more  failures  or  leaves  a  larger  residue 
in  the  social  depths.  Relief  is  even  a  moral  duty  for  those 
who  can  extend  it,  although  this  does  not  create  a  correla- 
tive right  to  relief  in  those  who  have  need  of  it.  We  under- 
stand now  that  charity  supports  and  does  not  suppress 
poverty;  it  is  a  palliative  and  will  never  be  a  remedy. 

XXV. 

Real  remedies,  which  if  not  sovereign  are  at  least  effi- 
cacious, have  been  discovered  in  what  I  have  called  social 
and  industrial  patronage.  Animated  by  a  sympathy  en- 
gendered of  religion,  philanthropy  or  patriotism,  man 
extends  the  hand  of  friendship  to  some  one  in  an  inferior 
condition  and  aids  him  to  live,  to  educate  himself,  and  im- 


4 08  The  American  Laborer 

prove  his  morals;  this  has  been  called  social  patronage. 
Animated  also  by  sympathy,  but  in  the  further  interests  of 
his  establishment  and  its  personnel,  the  employer  directs 
himself  to  the  creation  of  bonds  of  mutual  interest  between 
himself  and  his  employees,  that  will  increase  their  security 
and  comforts  and  advance  his  interests  by  promoting 
harmony  in  his  establishment  and  peace  in  the  industrial 
world;  this  has  been  called  industrial  patronage. 

Institutions  of  social  patronage  are  numerous  in  America, 
and  have  diverse  aims.  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  chapter  ** 
in  which  I  have  explained  the  principal  types  and  shown 
that  social  patronage,  like  charity,  is  very  active  in  America. 

There  are  but  few  examples  of  industrial  patronage  in 
America,  although  some  of  these  are  very  meritorious,  and 
until  the  present  time  its  success  has  been  very  modest 
where  tried.  The  character  of  certain  European  peoples 
seems  more  adapted  to  industrial  patronage  than  that  of  the 
Americans.  Both  workmen  and  employers  in  the  United 
States  are  too  independent,  too  mobile  perhaps,  or  at  any 
rate,  too  careful  about  minding  their  own  affairs  to  form 
or  accept  obligations  and  bonds  of  this  nature. 

XXVI. 

Profit-sharing  is  something  more  than  industrial  patron- 
age, although  of  kindred  origin;  it  is  a  wage-contract  by 
which  the  employer  obligates  himself,  in  addition  to  paying 
the  customary  wages,  to  set  aside  for  his  employees  a  fixed 
portion  of  the  profits.  It  is  usually  adopted  with  the  object 
of  stimulating  the  productivity  of  the  employees  by  linking 
their  interests  to  those  of  the  employer.  It  is  recommended 
as  the  most  equitable  form  of  remuneration  and  as  the 
surest  remedy  for  the  antagonism  between  labor  and  capi- 
tal, on  the  grounds  that  it  creates  in  the  employee  a 
pecuniary  and  moral  interest  in  the  success  of  the  business 
while  it  leaves  the  management  and  authority  undivided  in 
the  hands  of  the  employer. 

"  See  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  part  iii,  ch.  iv. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  469 

The  system  is  certainly  to  be  commended,  and  its  effects 
are  excellent  where  it  is  applicable,  that  is,  in  cases  where 
the  character  of  the  personnel,  the  nature  of  the  industry, 
and  the  tone  of  the  establishment  are  favorable  to  its  appli- 
cation. But  such  cases  are  rare,  and  although  estimable 
men  have  pointed  out  the  path  and  devoted  men  have  fol- 
lowed it  with  faith,  instances  of  profit-sharing  are  rarer  in 
the  United  States  than  those  of  ordinary  industrial  patron- 
age, and  until  now  it  has  not  been  America  which  has  fur- 
nished the  most  celebrated  example  of  profit-sharing.25 

XXVII. 

Cooperation  is  another  proposed  remedy.  In  the  form  of 
the  credit  association  it  facilitates  the  payment  of  interest 
upon  very  small  savings,  and  is  profitable  both  to  the 
artisan  and  the  workman;  the  most  popular  and  best  organ- 
ized type  of  these  in  the  United  States  is  probably  the 
loan  and  building  association. 

The  consumers'  association  makes  it  possible  to  buy  the 
principal  articles  consumed  in  the  household  in  a  more 
economical  and  healthful  way  than  at  retail,  by  which  the 
prices  of  many  commodities  are  disproportionately  in- 
creased. Cooperative  consumption  is  not  practiced  exclu- 
sively by  workmen,  and  although  it  has  been  highly 
recommended  by  powerful  labor  organizations,  the  Knights 
of  Labor  for  instance,  it  has  made  much  less  progress  in  the 
United  States  than  in  England,  and  occupies  a  very  small 
place  in  the  life  of  the  American  workmen. 

Cooperative  production  occupies  a  still  smaller  place.  Is  it 
because  the  idea  has  not  had  time  to  mature,  or  because  its 
foundation  is  faulty,  or  because — although  of  possible 
realization — the  conditions  necessary  for  general  and  last- 
ing success  are  too  complex,  too  difficult  to  unite?  The 
third  supposition  seems  most  probable.  In  any  event, 
cooperative  production  has  been  no  more  successful  than 

25  L'Ouvrier  Americain,  part  iii,  ch.  iv. 


470  The  American  Laborer 

profit-sharing  in  converting  the  American  mind,  which 
seems  too  individualistic,  in  its  present  attitude  at  least,  for 
such  institutions. 

Nothing  is  so  alluring  to  the  workman  as  the  prospect  of 
becoming  master  where  until  now  he  has  been  subordinate, 
and  those  who,  knowing  all  this,  hold  cooperation  out  to 
him  as  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  which  association  shall 
wholly  replace  the  wage-system,  are  willfully  deluding  him. 

XXVIII. 

Another  illusion  of  which  certain  innovators  of  theory, 
well-meaning  gentlemen  no  doubt,  are  fond,  is  that  econ- 
omic progress  is  due  to  the  growth  of  consumption.  Mr. 
Gunton,  for  example,  defends  this  thesis:  "  Social  progress 
and  civilization  are  promoted,  not  so  much  by  saving  as  by 
consuming  wealth.  Those  who  save,  especially  among  the 
wage-receivers,  are  enabled  to  do  so,  other  things  being 
the  same,  solely  because  others  consume.  If  everybody 
saved,  who  would  consume?  and  if  nobody  consumed,  who 
could  save?"  K 

If  there  were  no  consumption,  production  would  certainly 
be  superfluous.  But  this  supposition  is  entirely  gratuitous. 
The  truth  is  that  man  consumes  in  order  to  live,  and  that  a 
natural  feeling — this  is  admitted  by  American  as  well  as 
European  economists — prompts  him  to  consume  more 
freely  as  his  resources  increase.  The  exceptions  to  this 
are  rare.  The  economic  movement  of  a  nation  is  a  result- 
ant in  which  all  classes,  closely  interconnected  and  reacting 
upon  one  another,  have  participated.  Consumption  stimu- 
lates production  by  absorbing  it.  But  this  is  no  reason 
why  the  whole  income  should  be  spent  for  immediate  en- 
joyment or  in  what  has  been  called,  more  or  less  exactly, 
unproductive  consumption.  The  man  who  saves  and  turns 
his  savings  to  immediate  account  by  investing  them,  insti- 
tutes a  consumption  which  is  not  less  but  more  conducive 

"  Wealth  and  Progress,  pp.  95,  96. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  471 

to  the  growth  of  wealth  than  the  consumption  for  personal 
enjoyment.  These  are  truths  repeatedly  emphasized  in 
political  economy  and  generally  endorsed  by  the  common 
sense  of  the  people  which  counsels  a  wise  mixture  of  com- 
fort and  saving.  It  is  as  unscientific  to  erect  into  a  prin- 
ciple the  dogma  that  consumption  is  the  efficient  cause  of 
wealth  as  it  is  imprudent  to  excite  the  people  to  increase 
their  expenditures  by  persuading  them  that  their  incomes 
will  follow  suit. 

As  to  whether  demand  determines  supply  or  vice  versa,  I 
have  stated  that  if  either  one  can  properly  be  said  to  take 
precedence  over  the  other,  I  am  inclined  to  attach  the 
priority  to  demand,  because  at  any  given  moment  we  have 
only  the  existing  wealth  with  which  to  pay  for  products. 
And  yet,  it  is  necessary  that  this  wealth  should  have  been 
created.  The  laboring  class,  less  than  any  other,  should 
be  encouraged  to  procure  personal  enjoyment  upon  credit. 

XXIX. 

Assuming  that  there  is  little  efficacy  in  the  partial  reforms 
which  conservative  minds  have  proposed  in  the  hope  of 
improving  without  revolutionizing  the  present  organization 
of  society,  is  there  no  alternative  but  the  radical  transforma- 
tion of  socialism?  Some  American  publicists  make  an  ante- 
thesis  of  socialism  and  individualism,  assimilating  the 
former  with  egoism,  the  latter  with  sociability.  Mr.  Gil- 
man,  for  instance,  after  having  shown  the  benefits  of  social 
organization,  adds  less  happily:  "What  is  most  needed  is 
not  a  crusade  against  socialism  in  the  holy  and  infallible 
name  of  free  competition,  but  a  determined  reaction  against 
the  gross  individualism  too  abundant  in  our  time."  s  That 
morality  opposes  the  excesses  of  an  unrestrained  individual- 
ism by  the  feeling  of  sympathy  is  true  enough;  that  Ameri- 
can employers  are  particularly  in  need  of  having  their  social 
sympathies  awakened  is  very  possible;  that  the  family,  the 

27  Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  22. 


472  The  American  Laborer 

corporation,  the  state  are  existing  manifestations  and  ir- 
refutable proofs  of  human  solidarity  is  evident.  But  this 
does  not  prevent  sound  policy  and  political  economy  from 
pronouncing  openly  against  socialism  which  tends  to  sub- 
stitute restraint  for  solidarity;  which  aims  to  suppress 
individual  initiative,  and  at  the  very  least  would  emasculate 
it;  which  if  consistently  applied  would  disorganize  society, 
and  if  partially  injected  into  American  institutions  would 
impoverish  certain  fruitful  sources  of  wealth.  Individual- 
ism turns  a  cold  ear  to  communism.  Cooperation?  Yes; 
but  not  absorption. 

It  is  no  reproach  to  individualism  that  it  stands  for  the 
power  of  the  individual,  for  this  is  one  of  the  moral  forces 
that  support  the  social  structure  of  the  United  States  and 
one  of  those  which  has  contributed  most  to  the  greatness 
of  the  American  nation.  Individualism  is  bred  in  the 
American  by  the  democratic  nature  of  his  government  and 
by  the  democratic  constitution  of  the  family,  in  which 
children  are  granted  their  independence  at  a  very  early  age. 

Vague  definitions  have  created  a  good  deal  of  confusion 
upon  a  subject  about  which  it  is  particularly  necessary  to 
think  clearly,  and  in  order  that  the  public  may  think  clearly 
it  is  necessary  for  those  who  instruct  them  to  be  very 
precise  in  their  statement  of  facts  and  tendencies. 

Under  the  term  solidarity,  it  seems,  certain  minds  in 
America  and  a  greater  number  perhaps  in  France,  have 
grouped  a  confused  mass  of  projects  which  threaten  to 
extinguish  liberty  beneath  a  flood  of  new  social  obligations. 
It  is  very  necessary  to  clear  up  this  confusion.  Everyone 
understands  that  a  voluntary  solidarity  envelops  our  whole 
life,  showing  itself  in  family  duties  and  affections,  in  the 
relations  of  friendship,  in  the  love  of  our  fellows,  in  the 
desire  to  secure  power  or  win  respect;  moreover  it  is  plain 
that  the  compulsory  solidarity,  legal  and  social,  of  members 
of  the  same  state  is  undeniable  and  necessary,  and  that  it 
has  existed  at  all  times,  changing  as  conditions  changed, 
developing  as  political  liberty  developed.     "  Quidquid  delir- 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  473 

ant  regcs  plectuntur  Achivi "  was  said  in  ancient  times,  and 
in  modern  times  every  nation  has  had  proof,  sometimes 
cruel  proof,  of  how  dependent  the  fortune  of  individuals  is 
upon  the  good  or  evil  administration  of  their  government. 
The  political  solidarity  which  defends  territory,  punishes 
crime,  spreads  education,  and  relieves  want,  is  the  moral 
keystone  of  government  and  the  backbone  of  civilization. 
But  to  make  voluntary  solidarity  a  legal  obligation,  to  regu- 
late the  acts  of  private  life  by  public  authority  when  such 
interference  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to  the  existence  of 
the  community,  to  confiscate  one  man's  property,  for  in- 
stance, because  the  government  thinks  good  to  give  it  to 
another,  or  to  compel  people  to  have  children 28  and  in- 
dividuals to  do  a  certain  amount  of  manual  labor  daily,  this 
would  be  a  criminal  suppression  of  liberty  that  would 
probably  dry  up  the  sources  of  activity,  wealth,  and  altruism, 
although  the  reformers  flatter  themselves  that  under  their 
control  these  sources  would  become  only  the  more  pro- 
ductive. We  must  be  careful  not  to  abuse  the  word  by 
confusing  the  kinds  of  solidarity. 

I  cordially  endorse  the  words  of  Spencer:  "The  society 
exists  for  the  benefit  of  its  members;  not  its  members  for 
the  benefit  of  the  society,"  "  and  I  add:  "  Society  has  duties 
towards  its  members,  and  those  members  have  obligations 
toward  society."  The  principles  of  liberty  and  solidarity 
are  not  mutually  exclusive;  but  to  suppress  liberty  in  the 
name  of  solidarity  and  with  the  object  of  improving  the  lot 
of  the  disinherited,  would  be  to  kill  the  goose  that  lays  the 
golden  egg. 

We  must  also  be  careful  not  to  abuse  the  word  socialism. 
When  people  say  we  are  all  socialists  because  we  all  live 
in  society  and  all  believe  that  society  has  certain  rights  and 
obligations  towards  its  members,  they  are  playing  upon 
words.  Nor  can  I  approve  the  verbal  coquetry  by  which 
on  both  continents  state  interference  is  softened  into  "  good 

28  This  singular  project  is  unknown  in  American  socialism. 
28  Spencer,  Principles  of  Sociology,  pt.  ii,  §  222. 


474  The  American  Laborer 

socialism";  I  refer  the  "  good  socialists"  to  what  I  have 
just  said  about  solidarity.  Those  who  use  the  term  may 
sincerely  believe  it  justifiable,  or  they  may  use  it  because 
it  appeals  to  the  ear  of  the  crowd  who  like  the  word  social- 
ism; but  when  one  gets  to  the  bottom  of  their  doctrine  it 
becomes  apparent  that  they  are  simply  lending  themselves 
to  the  socialists  without  openly  professing  the  true  social- 
istic doctrine.  Socialism,  as  understood  by  its  sincere 
adherents,  in  both  Europe  and  America,  is  not  the  same  as 
the  science  of  social  organization.  Nor  is  it  correctly 
characterized  in  Schaeffle's  definition  of  its  policy,  quoted 
by  Mr.  Gilman:  "  The  alpha  and  omega  of  socialism  is  the 
transformation  of  private  and  competing  capitals  into  a 
united,  collective  capital."  M 

Socialism  comprehends  diverse  and  even  antagonistic 
theories,  but  they  have  this  in  common:  they  all  look  for- 
ward to  the  seizure  of  private  property,  or  at  least,  the 
seizure  of  the  means  of  production,  by  the  community. 
This  does  not  imply  that  there  was  not  a  wide  difference 
between  the  early  schools,  those  of  Fourier  and  the  Saint- 
Simonians,  any  more  than  it  implies  a  close  resemblance 
between  modern  communism  and  anarchism,  although  they 
both  accept  as  a  starting  point  Marx's  erroneous  analysis 
of  the  conditions  of  production,  because  it  is  an  assault 
upon  the  right  of  capital.  At  present  one  seldom  hears  of 
these  early  schools  except  in  the  histories,  and  the  more  or 
less  communistic  experiments  made  in  America  are  little 
more  than  rare  examples  of  social  teratology,  without  influ- 
ence upon  opinion.  The  popular  schools  are  either  com- 
munistic, anarchistic,  or  collectivist.  Their  dominant  char- 
acteristics, so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  seize  upon  salient 
features  in  this  tangled  maze  of  vague  projects,  are  the 
abolition  and  confiscation  of  private  property,  or  practically 
this,  in  order  to  give  laborers  free  use  of  the  instruments 
of  production;  the  suppression  of  the  wage-earning  and 

"  Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  10. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  475 

employing  classes  in  order  to  organize  production  on  the 
cooperative  system;  the  remuneration  of  each  according  to 
his  need,  his  productivity,  or  the  number  of  hours  he  has 
worked;  and  the  assumption  that  such  a  regime  will  eradi- 
cate indolence  and  vice  and  make  everybody  comfortable. 

Their  most  alluring  scheme  is  the  suppression  of  the 
wage-system.  When  the  International  Labor  Union  of 
America  was  founded  in  1877,  it  adopted  the  following  as 
the  first  article  of  its  declaration  of  principles:  "That  the 
wage-system  is  a  despotism  under  which  the  wage-worker 
is  forced  to  sell  his  labor  at  such  price  and  such  conditions 
as  the  employer  of  labor  shall  dictate."  31 

All  the  socialistic  schools  agree  in  declaring  that  the 
present  organization  of  society  is  a  crumbling  aggregation 
of  iniquitous  monstrosities  which  crushes  labor  while  it 
exalts  capital,  and  that  to  attain  their  ends  it  must  be  de- 
stroyed. The  more  conservative  predict  that  it  will  fall 
to  pieces  of  its  own  accord  as  social  evolution  proceeds,  and 
recommend  that  its  dissolution  be  hastened  by  means  of 
the  strike  and  other  active  measures.  The  revolutionists 
maintain  that  capital  will  never  capitulate,  and  loudly  pro- 
claim that  force  must  be  used  and  the  robbers  dispossessed, 
if  the  people  would  come  into  their  own  again.  Doctrine 
and  tactics  are  the  same  in  both  continents.  In  former 
days  reform  was  demanded  in  the  name  of  liberty  and 
right;  to-day  it  is  social  transformation  they  demand,  violent 
or  peaceful,  and  in  the  name  of  pleasure.  Hatred  of  exist- 
ing conditions;  this  is  the  lesson  taught  by  socialists  in  one 
way  or  another,  and  as  they  are  too  impatient  to  await 
transformation  by  natural  evolution,  they  usually  turn  to 
the  propaganda  of  revolution.  With  the  masses  into  which 
a  propaganda  of  this  kind  niters,  it  is  ordinarily  the  most 
violent  who  secure  the  last  word. 

Three  factors  of  American  civilization  are  especially 
favorable  to  the  spread  of  socialism:  immigration,  indus- 

31  McNeill,  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  161. 


476  The  American  Laborer 

trial  concentration,  and  the  immense  urban  populations. 
Yet  in  spite  of  the  unhealthy  influence  which  these  exert, 
and  the  scurrilous  character  of  certain  classes  of  the  immi- 
grants, the  strong  individuality  and  democratic  training  of 
the  American  workingman  have  bred  in  him,  happily  for 
the  United  States,  an  inherent  antagonism  to  the  sophis- 
tries of  communistic  production.  Mr.  Gilman  thinks  ** 
that  the  idea  of  the  state  being  the  sole  producer,  tran- 
sporter, and  distributor  of  wealth  is  distasteful  to  the  Ameri- 
can workman  whose  optimistic  nature  recoils  at  the 
pessimism  of  socialism.  "  The  world  over,  democracy  has 
no  more  insidious  enemy  to  fear,  so  surely  would  socialism 
issue  in  despotism."  33  Socialism  and  revolutionary  social- 
ism in  particular  seem  to  have  taken  little  hold  on  the 
American  people;  its  followers  are  more  noisy  than  numer- 
ous and  still  remain  an  insignificant  minority.84 

Society's  supreme  safeguard  against  the  application  of 
collectivism  or  communism  is  their  impracticability.  Yet 
it  will  not  do  to  look  upon  their  propagation  with  indiffer- 
ence. Whatever  his  virtues,  the  American  workman  prob- 
ably has  a  kindly  ear  for  the  quacks  who  tell  him  that  he  is 
badly  treated,  that  the  only  obstacle  is  the  capitalist,  that 
he  clearly  has  a  right  to  more  than  he  gets,  and  that  he 
will  get  more  if  he  keeps  hoping  for  it  persistently;  all  these 
are  ideas  which  soothe  his  feelings.  In  a  country  where 
the  people  govern,  when  they  are  fed  upon  the  hatred  of 
wealth  and  obedience,  when  agitation  in  the  present  and 

32  In  his  opinion,  the  people  who  have  passed  through  the  Civil 
War  and  suppressed  slavery  can  regard  with  serenity  the  social 
difficulties  of  the  future.  The  Americans,  he  also  thinks,  are 
justified  in  believing  that  if  the  socialistic  problems  which  are  now 
disturbing  Europe  arise  in  the  United  States,  they  will  find  their 
solution  in  that  country.  "  Our  existing  civilization  in  its  finest 
development  has  not  asserted  the  principle  of  equal  reward,  but  the 
principle  of  equal  opportunity  for  every  man  and  woman."  Socialism 
and  the  American  Spirit,  pp.  329,  361. 

33  Ibid.,  p.  189. 

34  Mr.  Gilman  says:  "  Revolutionary  socialism  has  very  little  sig- 
nificance in  the  America  of  to-day."     Ibid.,  p.  127. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  477 

forceful  revolution  or  the  seizure  of  power  in  the  near  fu- 
ture, are  held  out  to  them  as  the  infallible  means  of  securing 
their  happiness  and  advancement,  there  is  surely  a  public 
danger.  If  collectivism  cannot  be  instituted,  the  present 
organization  of  society  may  be  deranged. 

And  yet  in  a  free  country,  so  long  as  agitation  keeps  itself 
within  the  bounds  of  law  there  is  but  one  weapon  with 
which  to  oppose  the  propagation  of  false  ideas,  and  that  is 
the  propagation  of  correct  ideas.  But  we  must  not  be  de- 
ceived by  the  hope  that  the  true  will  wholly  exterminate 
the  false.  The  people  are  credulous:  they  can  no  more  be 
disabused  of  socialism  than  the  ignorant  peasants  at  our 
country  fairs  can  be  shorn  of  their  belief  in  the  miracles  of 
the  side-show. 

XXX. 

The  great  fortunes  made  in  business,  by  speculation,  or 
by  the  growth  in  the  value  of  real  estate  are  logical  results 
of  the  peopling  of' an  immense  territory,  and  of  the  gigantic 
development,  agricultural,  commercial,  and  industrial,  of 
the  United  States  in  the  nineteenth  century:  they  constitute 
another  motive  for  stirring  up  hatred  against  wealth.  The 
revolutionists,  and  the  peace-socialists  also,  have  not  failed 
to  use  them  as  commentaries  upon  the  proposition  laid 
down  by  Karl  Marx  that  an  accumulation  of  wealth  at  one 
extreme  of  society  indicates  an  accumulation  of  misery  and 
an  excess  of  labor  at  the  other,  and  to  persuade  the  poor 
that,  as  the  distribution  of  wealth  is  inequitable,  the  people 
would  merely  be  reclaiming  their  own  in  confiscating  for 
the  benefit  of  the  community  the  wealth  which  they  have 
created.  The  separation  between  employers  and  employees, 
which  has  been  increased  by  the  growth  of  the  average  in- 
dustrial establishment,  tends  to  develop  this  hostile  senti- 
ment. 

"  If,"  says  Mr.  Gilman,  "  the  contrast  between  wealth  and 
poverty  is  greater  now  than  ever  before — and  this  may  well 
be  doubted — it  is  not  because  the  poor  are  poorer,  but  be- 


478  The  American  Laborer 

cause  the  rich  are  richer."  !  In  another  passage  which  mer- 
its the  studious  attention  of  the  great  manufacturers,  he 
adds:  "The  former  feeling  of  partnership  has  vanished  in 
the  stupendous  development  of  modern  industrial  civiliza- 
tion. Master  and  man  too  often  talk  of  each  other  as  if 
they  were  entirely  distinct  species,  with  the  fewest  possible 
points  of  sympathy  or  contact.  .  .  .  The  employer  is  too 
wont  to  think  of  his  men  as  so  many  machines,  or,  at  the 
best,  as  creatures  largely  irrational.  The  workman  regards 
the  owner  of  the  vast  establishment  where  he  works  as  a 
selfish  tyrant,  chiefly  bent  on  reducing  wages  to  the  lowest 
possible  point.     The  masters  combine  against  the  men,  and 

the  men  combine  against  the  masters Workingmen 

dream  of  a  happy  day  when  all  industry  shall  be  purely  co- 
operative, and  the  employing  class  be  abolished.  The 
capitalist  dreams  of  the  time  when  improved  machinery 
shall  have  reduced  the  need  of  hand-labor  to  a  minimum."  ! 

XXXI. 

All  socialistic  parties  demand  state  intervention  in  the 
regulation  and  even  in  the  operation  of  industry;  their  tac- 
tics are  those  of  an  army  making  a  diversion  in  one  direc- 
tion while  the  ultimate  goal — the  absorption  of  all  indus- 
tries in  the  state — is  carefully  concealed.  By  this  stratagem 
they  obtain  the  support  of  parties  whose  ideals  are  different 
and  which  would  refuse  to  take  the  field,  perhaps,  if  they 
understood  where  they  were  being  led. 

The  question  of  state  intervention,  unlike  the  proposal  to 
abolish  private  property,  cannot  be  judged  and  condemned 
en  bloc.  As  I  said  in  speaking  of  solidarity,  the  state  is  an 
indispensable  condition  of  social  life  and  one  of  the  two 
causes  of  the  progress  of  civilization,  the  individual  being 
the  other  cause.  There  has  been  much  discussion  about 
the  spheres  of  the  individual  and  the  state,  but  to  deny 
(.ither  is  logically  impossible.     The  individual  acts,  thinks, 

*  Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  25.  ae  Ibid.,  p.  283. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  479 

creates  wealth  and  consumes  it;  the  state  prescribes  and  en- 
forces rules  by  which  the  activities  of  individuals  are  co- 
ordinated in  that  degree  necessary  to  maintain  the  society: 
in   certain   cases,   also,   the   state  limits  and   directs   these 
activities  to  a  common  end.     The  supreme  end,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  defined  in  the  present  state  of  our  civilization,  is  to 
ensure  justice  through  the  operation  of  law,  and  to  secure, 
not  happiness — the  word  is  as  vague  as  the  end  is  inde- 
terminate— but  better  moral  and  material  conditions  of  life 
for  the  members  of  the  society.     The  first  and  most  im- 
portant of  these  conditions,  after  men  have  attained  a  suffi- 
cient moral  and  intellectual  development,  is  the  respect  for 
human   liberty  and  the   consequences   thereof,   which,   by 
stimulating  self-interest,  encourages  the  unlimited  and  fruit- 
ful   expansion   of   individual   activity    in   all    directions    of 
thought  and  action.     At  bottom  there  is  no  conflict  of  in- 
terests between  the  individual  and  the  state,  since  they  have 
a  common  end,  but  disagreeable  conflicts  have  arisen  be- 
cause the  government  has  frequently  been  in  the  hands  of 
despots — kings  or  the  transient  instruments  of  some  fac- 
tion— and  in  other  cases,  outworn  institutions  of  another 
age  have  more  or  less  oppressed  the  people,  who  as  they 
gained  in  intelligence  and  power,  have  broken  their  chains. 
The  varied  functions  of  the  state  do  not  necessarily  make 
it  an  oppressor.     To  provide  an  efficient  police  which  will 
protect  the  national  territory  from  foes  without,  and  within, 
furnish  security  to  the  inhabitants  in  their  persons,  their 
acts,  their  relations,  their  associations  and  their  property, 
may  be  the  first  duty  of  the  state  to  a  free  people;  but  it  is 
not  the  only  duty.     In  its  political  laws  the  state  is  led  to 
determine  the  participation  of  individuals  in  public  affairs; 
in  its  civil  laws,  to  decide  questions  of  property  and  limit 
individual  action;  in  its  fiscal  laws,  to  levy  upon  individual 
wealth.     The    state    educates;    constructs    roads,    harbors, 
monuments;  operates  certain  industries  in  order  to  supply 
its   own   wants   or   undertakes   to   furnish   certain   services 
which  are  used  by  all;  it  guards  the  common  interests.     The 


480  The  American  Laborer 

government  thus  impresses  a  national  character  upon  the 
nation  which  it  governs. 

From  this  point  of  view  every  state  has  its  peculiar  insti- 
tutions. In  England  and  America,  railroads  are  private  in- 
dustries; in  France  they  are  organized  into  great  systems 
by  temporary  concessions  from  the  state;  in  Australia  and 
Germany  they  are  to  a  great  extent  owned  and  operated 
directly  by  the  state;  in  the  United  States  the  telegraph 
service  is  private,  while  the  postal  service  is  public.  Con- 
siderations of  expediency  have  determined  the  intervention 
or  non-intervention  of  the  state  in  each  instance.  In  Eng- 
land, the  home  of  individual  liberty,  the  state  has  greatly 
extended  the  sphere  of  intervention,  wisely  or  unwisely,  in 
the  last  twenty  years,  and  American  advocates  of  interven- 
tion have  not  failed  to  call  attention  to  the  fact.  Neverthe- 
less, the  economic  institutions  of  all  civilized  countries  of 
Europe  and  America  are  founded  upon  the  principles  of 
individual  liberty  and  private  property. 

By  this  I  do  not  wish  to  imply  that  the  form  and  limits 
of  state  intervention  are  questions  of  mediocre  importance; 
far  from  it.  If  communism  is  a  Utopia,  which  may  agitate 
the  people,  but  never  be  realized,  state  intervention  is  a 
present  reality,  and  projects  of  intervention  such  as  will  de- 
base the  conditions  of  social  existence  and  interrupt  the 
growth  of  wealth,  constitute  an  immediate  danger;  a  pass- 
ing current  of  public  opinion  may  at  any  time  secure  the 
passage  of  a  law  that  will  transform  some  wild  scheme  into 
a  public  institution.  Although  the  American  character 
may  be  unfavorable  to  communism,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
democracies,  American  and  European,  are  favorable  to  pro- 
jects of  state  intervention.  It  is  very  possible  that  they  take 
this  position  blindly,  thinking  that  if  intervention  takes  the 
form  of  state  ownership,  it  will  be  so  much  saved  from  the 
greed  of  capital,  while  if  it  takes  the  form  of  surveillance, 
it  will  be  the  means  of  checking  the  tyranny  of  capital. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  481 

XXXII. 

Modes  of  this  surveillance  are  found  in  factory  regulation 
inspection.  In  judging  these  the  employer  and  the 
workmen  are  placed  at  diametrically  opposed  points  of 
view;  it  is  necessary  to  hear  both  sides,  remembering  dis- 
tinctly at  the  outset  that  the  proprietor  is  the  owner,  and 
must  remain  the  master,  of  his  establishment,  but  recogniz- 
ing on  the  other  hand  that  as  this  establishment  employs  a 
numerous  personnel  who  cannot  exercise  the  police  power 
themselves,  there  exists  a  necessity  for  certain  rules  of  hy- 
giene, protection,  and  responsibility  in  cases  of  accident,  as 
well  as  for  the  inspection  necessary  to  the  enforcement  of 
these  rules.  But  there  are  limits  which  cannot  be  passed 
without  crippling  enterprise,  and  it  is  necessary  to  respect 
these  limits;  as  John  Stuart  Mill  somewhere  said,  the  pre- 
sumption is  always  in  favor  of  liberty  and  it  must  be  shown 
in  every  particular  case  that  regulation  is  necessary.  Under 
democratic  influences,  legislatures  have  more  than  once  ig- 
nored this  maxim  and  transgressed  these  limits.  A  few 
years  ago  Mr.  Hewitt,  the  well-known  manufacturer  of 
New  York,  said :  "  Some  of  the  legislation  which  has  been 
recently  enacted  is  a  positive  violation  of  the  .  .  .  Consti- 
tution in  reference  to  the  liberties  of  the  citizens.  .  .  .  What 
we  need,  therefore,  is  a  recurrence  to  the  well-settled  prin- 
ciples of  jurisprudence,  a  higher  order  of  statesmanship,  and 
the  courage  on  the  part  of  our  public  men  to  stand  up  for 
the  right,  though  for  a  time  it  may  involve  the  sacrifice  of 
personal  popularity."  " 

37  A.  S.  Hewitt,  Iron  and  Labor,  p.  18.  The  Australian  colonies, 
particularly  New  Zealand,  are  more  democratic  in  character  than 
the  United  States,  and  have  consequently  gone  further  in  the 
regulation  of  industry.  The  regulations  apply  to  all  establish- 
ments in  which  more  than  two  wage-earners  are  employed.  The 
employment  of  children  under  fourteen  is  entirely  prohibited,  and 
women,  minors  under  eighteen,  and  the  employees  of  retail  stores 
must  be  given  a  half-holiday  each  week  in  addition  to  the  Sunday 
holiday.  In  1895  it  was  proposed  to  make  the  eight-hour  day 
obligatory  in  all  lines  of  industry.  Pierre  Leroy-Beaulieu,  Les 
Nouvelles  Societes  Anglo- Saxonnes,  pp.  174,  180. 

32 


482  The  American  Laborer 

XXXIII. 

Amcng  the  most  important  subjects  of  regulation  is  the 
labor  of  women  and  children.  Massachusetts  limited  by  law 
the  length  of  their  working-day,  and  other  states  have  fol- 
lowed her.  Massachusetts  had  imitated  England  in  this 
matter,  and  the  question  is  still  agitated  on  both  continents. 
Those  who  in  common  with  myself  are  convinced  that  free- 
dom should  be  the  rule,  being  a  right,  and  regulation  the 
exception,  think  it  necessary  to  draw  a  distinction  between 
adult  women  and  minors:  the  former  are  legally  capable 
of  making  a  contract  and  hence  should  be  free  to  earn 
their  living  in  whatever  way  seems  most  advantageous  to 
them;  for  the  latter  the  state  may  legitimately  act  as  guar- 
dian and  protector,  on  the  ground  that  the  premature  em- 
ployment of  children  is  injurious  to  their  own  future  and 
that  of  the  state. 

Instead  of  restricting  the  opportunities  for  self-support 
in  occupations  which  are  now  open  to  them,  it  would  be 
better  to  seek  new  avenues  of  employment  for  women.  The 
Americans  occupy  themselves  with  this  question,  realizing 
that,  although  it  is  desirable  that  married  women  should 
not  go  out  to  work  when  their  husband's  wages  are  high, 
it  is  also  desirable  that  they  should  be  able  to  contribute 
something  to  the  household  expenses  when  wages  are  low, 
and  in  the  case  of  single  women,  that  they  should  be  able  to 
support  themselves.87* 


s?a  [Franklin  H.  Giddings  has  recently  pointed  out  (Democracy  & 
Empire)  that  to  enlarge  the  field  of  employment  for  women  post- 
pones the  age  of  marriage  in  cities;  that  this  is  a  desirable  result 
inasmuch  as  it  is  infusion  of  healthy  country  blood  and  not  in- 
crease of  numbers  on  the  part  of  the  lowest  class  of  city  popula- 
tions which  makes  for  increased  physical  and  moral  vigor  in  the 
cities,  and  inasmuch  as  it  affords  women  more  opportunity  to 
educate  themselves  before  they  assume  the  duties  of  a  mother. 

A  further,  most  important,  result  is  that  with  maturer  years  the 
woman  becomes  more  discriminative  and  the  powerful  factor  of 
natural  selection  more  active. — Editor.] 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  483 

XXXIV. 

The  hours  of  labor  of  men  have  also  been  the  subject  of 
regulation.  The  socialists  and  the  labor-party,  who  in  the 
case  cf  women  and  children  were  very  urgent  in  their  de- 
mands for  shorter  hours,  are  no  less  insistent  in  their 
present  demand  for  the  limitation  of  the  hours  of  labor  of 
men.  The  eight-hour  system,  taken  in  its  literal  meaning 
or  as  a  vague  demand  for  fewer  hours,  has  in  the  last  fifteen 
years  become  one  of  the  war  cries  of  the  labor  party,  a 
cause  of  many  strikes,  and  the  subject  of  manifestos  from 
the  socialists  and  the  labor-organizations.  The  federated 
building  trades  have  forced  contractors  to  accept  it,  a  fed- 
eral law  and  many  state  laws  have  directly  or  indirectly 
adopted  it  for  workmen  employed  in  the  public  service,  and 
some  states  have  formally  recommended  or  even  imposed 
it  as  a  rule  in  wage-contracts  between  private  individuals. 

The  workmen  of  course  do  not  desire  a  reduction  of 
hours  that  is  accompanied  by  a  reduction  of  wages:  the 
movement  really  amounts  to  a  demand  for  higher  wages 
per  hour.  They  even  insinuate,  it  seems,  that  in  Massachu- 
setts wages  were  increased  by  a  reduction  of  the  working- 
day,38  but  the  insinuation  is  misleading. 

It  is  not  the  part  of  political  economy  to  settle  this  differ- 
ence by  adopting  a  normal  day.  Economics  teaches  merely 
that  there  is  a  logical  connection  between  the  duration  and 
the  product  of  labor,  and  shows  historically  that  as  industry 
has  developed,  the  working  day  has  been  reduced;  it  con- 
cludes, reasoning  from  the  principle  of  liberty,  that  the  pub- 
lic authority  should  refrain  from  all  interference  in  this  mat- 
ter and  leave  the  task  of  establishing  temporary  agree- 
ments to  the  play  of  private  interests  in  each  occupation, 
place  and  time. 

The  unions  have  been,  and  may  continue  to  be,  of  assist- 
ance to  workmen  in  bettering  themselves  in  this  as  in  other 

88  Or  at  least  a  French  Deputy,  M.  Vaillant,  said  as  much  in  a 
speech  delivered  in  the  Chamber  on  June  27,  1896. 


484  The  American  Laborer 

conditions  of  labor,  and  the  success  of  one  helps  others  by 
creating  a  precedent  which  in  the  end  becomes  a  custom. 

XXXV. 

Unsanitary  dwellings  have  also  been  the  subject  of  regula- 
tion in  some  of  the  large  cities,  and  here,  regulation  seems 
to  me  legitimate.  Of  course,  people  may  lodge  themselves 
as  they  see  fit,  so  long  as  they  do  not  obstruct  the  public 
ways.  But  a  city  has  the  right  to  condemn  property  gener- 
ally recognized  as  dangerous  to  the  public  health,  and  even 
to  stipulate  what  kind  of  buildings  shall  be  erected  within 
its  bounds.  It  also  has  the  right  of  enforcing  general  sani- 
tary precautions  against  the  spread  of  contagious  diseases. 
The  housing  of  the  poor  has  an  indisputable  influence  upon 
their  morality,  their  health,  and  their  general  welfare.  But 
the  authorities  should  be  very  circumspect  in  the  adoption 
and  execution  of  these  measures;  the  destruction  of  a  filthy 
tenement  may  mean  that  some  family  will  have  to  sleep  in 
the  streets,  and  a  mischievous  building  regulation  may  raise 
rents  among  the  poorer  classes;  and  these  are  high  enough 
already  in  the  United  States. 

XXXVI. 

State  operation  is  an  entirely  different  thing  from  state 
regulation  of  industries.  The  socialists  favor  state  opera- 
tion, for  reasons  given  above,  and  they  would  like  to  push 
their  theory  to  its  logical  conclusion,  until  industry,  agri- 
culture, and  commerce  were  combined  in  one  huge  unit — 
the  state.  The  adherents  of  intervention,  the  Etatistes  and 
the  socialists  of  the  chair  as  they  have  been  called,  also  favor 
state  operation,  but  they  would  confine  it  within  certain  un- 
defined limits  which  vary  according  to  their  individual  tem- 
peraments. The  more  conservative  economists  are  un- 
favorable to  the  policy,  some  condemning  it  unreservedly, 
others  justifying  it  only  when  it  is  demonstrated  to  be  ad- 
vantageous in  practice.     In  France,  for  instance,  it  is  cer- 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  485 

tain  that  the  tobacco  monopoly  is  far  more  productive  than 
any  form  of  excise  upon  this  article  would  be,  though  to- 
bacco is  wholly  a  luxury,  the  commerce  and  home  produc- 
tion of  which  has  been  very  easy  to  regulate,  while  it  still 
remains  to  be  proved  that  the  monopoly  is  not  injurious  to 
agriculture  and  commerce.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain 
that  the  monopoly  of  matches  has  its  inconveniences;  it  in- 
creases the  price  of  a  necessary  commodity  and  restricts 
the  variety  which  competition  would  introduce  in  the  effort 
to  please  the  purchaser.38  It  is  also  evident  that  the  alcohol 
monopoly,  which  bears  upon  an  article  of  luxury  and  often 
of  vice,  would  lead  France  into  inextricable  difficulties  be- 
cause of  the  immense  number  of  producers  and  vendors 
which  would  have  to  be  maintained  under  the  law. 

There  are  industrial  undertakings  which  the  state  is 
almost  obliged  to  carry  on.  In  the  United  States,  for  in- 
stance, the  federal  government  surveys  public  lands,  main- 
tains light-houses,  prints  the  official  publications,  and  makes 
or  repairs  war  materials ;  the  cities  construct  highways,  keep 
them  clean — sometimes  by  contract — and  regulate  the  water 
supply.  As  the  interventionists  demand,  the  cities  might 
also  supply  gas  and  electricity  without  danger  to  society,  if 
it  was  proved — which  it  is  not — that  they  could  do  it  better 
and  more  economically  than  private  companies. 

XXXVII. 
Reformers  accuse  political  economy  of  being  negative  or 
sterile  because  it  demonstrates  the  danger  or  futility  of  most 
of  the  remedies  which  they  propose  as  sovereign.  When  a 
clergyman  like  Washington  Gladden  answers  the  argument 
which  he  puts  in  the  mouth  of  a  capitalist — "  Business  is 
business;    Supply    and    demand" — by    saying:     "Another 

39  Large  budgets  tempt  the  state  to  try  monopoly.  Bismarck 
took  under  consideration  the  advisability  of  a  tobacco  monopoly, 
and  I  recall  that  a  person  in  relations  with  Napoleon  III  asked 
me  if  I  could  not  make  some  suggestions  for  the  establishment 
of  a  monopoly  of  matches,  but  I  carefully  refrained  from  doing  so. 


48G  The  American  Laborer 

law  comes  in  here,  a  better  law;  the  law  of  love,"40  I  un- 
derstand it.  I  also  understand  how  Professor  Ely,  in  the 
name  of  his  faith,  can  say  that  law  is  powerless  to  untie  the 
gordian  knot,  and  appeal  to  sentiment:41  he  is  right,  senti- 
ment is  one  of  the  bonds  of  society.  But  I  scarcely  under- 
stand how  as  an  economist  he  can  present  laissez-faire  as 
a  doctrine  of  selfish  individualism  which  recognizes  neither 
rights  nor  social  duties,  or  speak  of  a  political  economy 
higher  and  more  advanced,  which  proclaims  the  falsity  of 
laissez-faire  and  affirms  that  within  certain  limits  we  are 
obliged  to  interest  ourselves  in  the  happiness  of  others. 
Professor  Ely  seems  to  me  to  have  confused  laissez-faire 
with  political  economy.  The  former  is  a  logical  conclusion 
from  the  doctrine  of  economic  freedom,  and  signifies  that 
the  individual  is  the  best  judge  of  his  own  interests  and  that 
the  surest  means  of  developing  the  wealth  of  a  state  is  to  give 
free  play  to  the  development  of  individuals.  But  this  max- 
im is  far  from  constituting  the  whole  of  political  economy 
which  not  only  does  not  deny  the  existence  of  mutual  obli- 
gations, but  has  for  its  principal  subject  the  relations  be- 
tween men  in  the  production  and  distribution  of  wealth: 
many  economists  even  define  political  economy  as  "  the 
science  of  exchange  "  and  expound  the  advantages  of  the 
association  of  capital  and  labor. 

Political  economy  is  one  science,  and  ethics  is  another; 
nothing  is  gained  by  confusing  them.  Without  the  recog- 
nition of  social  obligation  and  the  feelings  of  sympathy  and 
love,  there  would  undoubtedly  be  no  human  society  and 
man  would  descend  to  a  level  lower  than  that  of  certain  ani- 
mals. On  the  other  hand,  the  moral  and  intellectual  work 
of  society  would  be  sadly  crippled  without  industrial  free- 
dom, the  development  of  education,  the  respect  for  private 
property,  and  the  stimulus  of  self-interest.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  say  that  political  economy  is  heartless,  as  reformers  are 

40  Working  People  and  their  Employers,  p.  38. 

41  The  Labor  Movement,  p.  311. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  487 

fond  of  saying  both  in  America  and  Europe,  because  it  con- 
fines itself  to  the  study  of  economic  facts  and  the  discovery 
of  economic  laws,  without  occupying  itself  with  the  con- 
struction of  beautiful  Utopias.  Its  subject-matter  being 
wealth,  and  wealth  (I  do  not  say  value)  being  almost  wholly 
the  product  of  labor — the  intellectual  labor  of  the  entre- 
preneur, the  manual  labor  of  the  day-laborer,  the  labor 
represented  in  the  capital — nothing  which  concerns  labor 
or  laborers  is  foreign  to  it:  wages,  machinery,  strikes, 
crises,  everything  that  touches  the  laborer  must  be  studied 
and  made  to  yield  useful  lessons.  As  a  science  it  explains 
the  laws  of  labor  and  investigates  the  ultimate  causes  of  the 
economic  movement:  as  an  art,  it  seeks  to  explain  the  con- 
ditions most  favorable  to  the  productivity  of  labor  and  the 
welfare  of  the  laborer.  The  science  is  not  ethical,  but  it  is 
not  indifferent  to  ethics:  economists  understand  how 
vitally  the  general  productivity  of  a  nation  is  affected  by  the 
morals  of  its  laborers. 

Who  is  the  wisest  friend  of  the  laboring  classes:  the 
prophet  inspired  of  socialism  who  seeks  to  destroy  the  wage- 
system  and  with  his  cry  of  "  down  with  capital "  has  already 
succeeded  in  dampening  the  spirit  of  enterprise  by  which 
wage-earners  live;  or  the  economist  convinced  by  his 
studies  that  capital  vitalizes  production  and  benefits  the 
wage-earner,  and  who  endorses  the  wage-system  as  a  legiti- 
mate and  durable  institution,  at  the  same  time  that  he  seeks 
the  means  of  improving  its  conditions:  the  enthusiastic 
apostle  who  rhapsodizes  about  the  virtues  of  cooperation 
and  tries  to  enlist  workmen  in  schemes  wherein  they  risk 
or  lose  their  time  and  money;  or  the  scientist  who  after  a 
careful  analysis  points  out  both  the  advantages  and  difficul- 
ties of  this  species  of  enterprise,  and  seeks  to  find  a  practi- 
cal solution  of  the  problem  by  studying  the  progress  of 
theories  and  institutions  of  solidarity  in  contemporary  so- 
cieties? 

Economic  science  is  neither  perfect  nor  complete,  and  it 
cannot  hope  to  lay  down  inflexible  rules  of  action  for  every 


488  The  American  Laborer 

case  that  may  arise.  Nor  will  it  ever  be  complete.  Like  all 
political  sciences  it  is  in  a  continual  state  of  development, 
because  certain  conditions  of  social  life  undergo  incessant 
modification.  Like  all  sciences  of  observation,  it  pushes 
its  analysis  into  the  minutest  details,  and  at  the  same  time 
rises  above  them  in  order  to  grasp  general  relations;  in 
these  analyses  and  generalizations,  its  vision  is  not  alto- 
gether perfect.  Like  all  moral  sciences  it  has  given  birth 
to  diverse  schools  and  it  will  continue  to  do  so  because  its 
subject-matter  is  very  extensive,  very  complex,  and  up  to  a 
certain  point  variable,  so  that  it  may  be  surveyed  from 
many  viewpoints  which,  moreover,  change  with  the  lapse  of 
time:  it  is  not  difficult  to  find  in  history  the  raison  d'etre  of 
the  principal  economic  schools.  The  American  nation  is 
young  and  not  afraid  of  economic  novelties,  as  is  shown  by 
the  economic  teaching  of  some  of  its  universities.  The 
liberal  school  to  which  I  belong  is  experimental,  historical, 
and  in  consequence,  progressive. 

By  its  studies  economic  science  not  only  extends  its  own 
borders  but  throws  light  upon  many  aspects  of  social  life. 
It  counsels  progress  and,  in  consequence,  antagonizes  that 
attempt  to  promote  it  which  consists  in  undermining  liberty 
and  private  property — the  essential  conditions  of  progress 
and  the  dual  base  of  the  existing  social  organization,  built 
up  by  the  work  of  centuries.  If  it  had  done  nothing  more 
than  demonstrate  the  solidity  of  this  base42  and  the  impo- 
tence of  its  proposed  substitutes,  it  would  have  earned  the 
right  of  respect;  society  should  be  grateful  to  it  for  exposing 
the  vanity  of  the  highly  colored  schemes  which  are  so  at- 
tractive to  the  multitude.     Does  not  hydrography  render 


"  Cf.  A  Plain  Man's  Talk  on  the  Labor  Question,  p.  189.  Professor 
Newcomb  expresses  an  important  truth  when  he  says:  "It  seems 
to  me  that  the  system  on  which  men  have  gradually  been  led  to 
work  in  unison  by  merely  following  the  course  dictated  by  cir- 
cumstances in  each  individual  case  works  better  than  any  which 
human  ingenuity  could  combine."  This  is,  however,  no  reason 
why  we  should  not  seek  for  a  better  svstem. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  489 

an  immense  service  to  navigation  and  commerce  simply  by 
its  measurements  of  depths  and  by  marking  out  rocks  and 
shoals  upon  the  marine  charts? 

XXXVIII. 

The  laws  of  wages  constitute  one  of  the  subjects  which 
political  economy  investigates,  and  although  the  phenomena 
to  be  explained  are  always  at  hand  in  innumerable  quantity, 
the  problem  is  so  difficult  and  complex  that  its  elucidation 
has  been  very  gradual;  as  yet  political  economy  has  offered 
no  explanation  that  meets  with  general  acceptance. 

I  have  no  patience  with  those  critics  who  abuse  the  ten- 
tative efforts  of  the  early  economists  by  deducing  from  some 
respectable  but  superseded  doctrine  a  narrow  and  incom- 
plete definition  of  wages  which  they  present  as  an  economic 
axiom,  and  then  glory  in  the  alleged  impotence  of  the 
science  because  they  are  so  easily  able  to  demolish  their 
man  of  straw.  That  Karl  Marx  used  this  process  and  bol- 
stered up  his  thesis  with  the  authority  of  Ricardo  and  Adam 
Smith,  goes  without  saying.  But  the  conscientious  critic 
will  have  none  of  it:  he  knows  that  every  science  has  its 
history  and  that  its  real  condition  must  be  judged  by  the 
present,  not  the  past. 

I  have  attempted,  while  making  every  use  of  the  work  of 
my  predecessors,  to  demonstrate  that  no  single  cause  can 
be  assigned  as  the  regulator  of  wages,  and  have  enumer- 
ated some  of  the  determinative  causes  of  nominal  wages, 
which  though  united  in  the  general  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand, are  very  diverse:  custom  and  institutions,  produc- 
tivity, competition,  cost  and  standard  of  living,  industrial 
capital — including  in  that  the  wage-fund — activity  of  pro- 
duction, and  amount  of  consumption. 

In  the  future,  wages,  like  prices,  will  have  to  be  modified, 
diversified,  and  adapted  to  time  and  circumstances;  it  will 
be  the  part  of  profit-sharing,  labor-premiums  or  of  various 
forms  of  piece-rate  payment  to  ameliorate  the  hardships  of 
the  wage-system.     But  the  wage-contract  implies  that  this 


490  The  American  Laborer 

system  like  the  contract  of  sale  will  not  disappear,  and  re- 
formers go  very  far  astray  when  they  solve  the  whole  labor 
problem  by  concocting  some  Utopia  in  which  this  feature  is 
lacking.  A  knowledge  of  the  determinative  causes  of 
wages,  facilitates  a  clearer  understanding  of  how,  when,  and 
in  what  measure  the  wage-system  can  be  modified  and  im- 
proved. 

Part  II. — The  Future:   Twenty  or  Thirty  Years 
Hence. 

History  opens  vistas  into  the  future  of  nations,  but  with- 
holds the  right  of  prediction.  The  same  is  true  of  eco- 
nomics. Economic  science  has  the  right  of  saying,  in  cer- 
tain cases,  how  things  may  happen  and  how  they  ought  not 
to  happen,  and  economic  history  has  free  scope  in  describ- 
ing how  they  have  happened:  this  is  what  I  have  tried  to 
do  in  this  work.  But  neither  can  forsee  with  certainty  the 
complicated  play  of  interests,  the  combinations  of  phenom- 
ena and  the  economic  results  that  will  be  produced  in  the 
distant  future.  The  statistician,  when  he  has  at  his  com- 
mand a  sufficient  number  of  numerical  returns  descriptive 
of  simple  facts,  is  occasionally  justified  in  attempting  to 
project  into  the  future  a  curve  that  he  has  plotted  for  the 
past,  but  even  then  the  result  is  merely  probable,  although 
examples  are  not  wanting  in  which  time  has  confirmed  the 
forecast. 

The  elements  of  labor  problems  are  too  diverse  and  vari- 
able, and  the  corresponding  statistics  are  too  meagre,  too 
lacking  in  serial  continuity,  to  justify  the  construction  of 
such  a  curve.  Nevertheless,  it  is  possible  to  indicate 
vaguely,  from  the  experience  of  the  present  generation,  the 
direction  that  the  so-called  labor-movement  will  take  in  the 
coming  generation.  I  have  already  indicated  some  of  these 
tendencies  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  chapter. 

The  reader  may  be  somewhat  surprised  that  in  my 
sketch  of  the  future  I  have  not  used  brighter  colors  or  a 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  491 

newer  design;  he  may  reproach  me  with  not  having  the 
acumen  to  see  and  the  boldness  to  show  that  social  evolu- 
tion is  leading  humanity  from  the  era  of  selfishness  to  that 
of  altruism,  from  antagonism  to  solidarity,  from  the  wage- 
system  to  cooperation,  from  capitalism  to  collectivism,  from 
misery  to  happiness.  If  such  boldness  fails  me  it  is  because 
my  examination  of  past  experience  has  given  me  no  faith 
in  this  ideal  evolution,  at  least  not  the  absolute  faith  of  the 
illuminati.  I  believe  as  a  philosopher,  and  see  as  an  his- 
torian, that  civilization,  to  use  the  phrase  of  a  well-known 
school,  is  in  a  state  of  perpetual  becoming.  But  I  observe 
that  the  economic  world,  while  it  progresses,  rests  upon  a 
foundation  of  principles  which  though  modified  in  their  de- 
tailed application  are  in  essence  invariable,  and  that  indi- 
vidual initiative,  private  property,  the  wage-system,  capital 
and  association  are  integral  parts  of  this  foundation.  The 
progress  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  due  to  the  solidity  of 
this  foundation,  no  less  than  to  the  discoveries  of  science, 
and  notwithstanding  the  slanderous  attacks  of  visionaries 
and  occasionally  of  legislators,  progress  has  but  strength- 
ened it.  Although  Fourier  predicted  in  1803  that  the  world 
was  about  to  pass  from  civilization  to  a  superior  phase  of  its 
development,  we  are  still  in  the  civilized  state  and  much 
may  yet  be  done  to  perfect  this  civilization.  I  cannot 
imagine  that  it  will  be  greatly  different  in  the  early  decades 
of  the  coming  century  and  I  see  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  predictions  of  present-day  socialists  will  come  any  nearer 
fulfillment  than  those  of  their  master,  Fourier. 

Yet  all  this  does  not  debar  one  from  affirming  that  nu- 
merous and  probably  very  important  changes  will  take  place 
in  the  state  of  wealth,  as  in  the  distribution  of  wealth  and 
the  character  of  production,  in  the  economic  relations  of 
men,  as  in  the  customs  of  civilized  nations. 

I. 

The  force  which  has  carried  forward  American  industry 
so  rapidly  and  carried  it  so  high  is  far  from  being  exhausted. 


492  The  American  Laborer 

Agriculture  meets  more  resistance  than  it  did  twenty  or 
thirty  years  ago,  and  is  forced  to  become  more  intensive  in 
order  to  be  more  profitable;  but  industry  always  has  ample 
scope  to  expand.  It  will  probably  encounter  increasing 
difficulties,  as  the  larger  industries  do  to-day,  but  the 
American  genius  will  conquer  them. 

The  Americans  will  continue  to  found  many  great  indus- 
trial establishments,  to  enlarge  those  which  exist,  and  in  en- 
larging them,  to  resort  more  and  more  to  association.  As 
the  expansion  of  the  industrial  unit  necessitates  larger  capi- 
tals, greater  use  will  be  made  of  the  joint-stock  company, 
with  its  triple  advantage  of  limiting  individual  risk,  opening 
industrial  investments  to  small  savings,  and  facilitating  the 
accumulation  of  great  capitals. 

At  the  same  time  American  industry  will  continue  to  im- 
prove its  equipment  by  taking  advantage  of  the  new  dis- 
coveries of  science,  by  increasing  the  employment  of  ma- 
chinery, and  by  introducing  thus  an  increasingly  intense  in- 
dustrial concentration.  Machinery,  concentration,  combi- 
nation of^apital:  these  indicate  the  line  of  development  of 
American  industry  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

So  far  as  industrial  development  depends  upon  the  em- 
ployment of  human  forces  of  production,  the  United  States 
enjoy  one  great  advantage  over  Europe:  they  have  practi- 
cally no  standing  army  and  whatever  sacrifice  the  navy  en- 
tails, war  expenditures  weigh  much  less  heavily  upon  them 
than  upon  the  great  powers  of  Europe. 

II. 
Although  they  possess  within  their  own  boundaries  what 
is  possibly  the  most  important  market  in  the  world,  they  will 
take  a  larger  part  than  heretofore,  and  with  good  prospects 
of  success,  in  the  struggle  for  foreign  markets,  in  order  to 
extend  their  field  of  production  with  the  multiplication  of 
their  outlets;  they  will  aspire  to  become  a  great  exporting 
nation,  without  relinquishing  however  the  profitable  duties 
upon  imports. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  493 

There  are  manufacturers  in  Europe  who  deny  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  large  expansion  of  the  American  export  trade, 
on  the  grounds  that  the  high  wages  prevalent  in  America 
constitute  an  insurmountable  obstacle  and  that  American 
workmanship,  mechanical  and  uniform,  is  too  defective. 
The  high  import  duties  have  led  them  to  believe  that 
American  industry  is  radically  inferior,  but  they  are  har- 
boring an  illusion  which  time  will  dissipate.  We  have  seen 
that  by  the  use  of  improved  machinery  the  Americans  have 
succeeded  in  producing  some  articles  very  cheaply;  there  is 
no  reason  to  prevent  the  application  of  this  system  to  the 
production  of  other  commodities.  They  have  also  im- 
proved the  quality  of  some  products,  and  there  is  nothing 
to  prevent  further  progress  of  this  kind;  moreover,  in  many 
markets,  the  trade  is  more  concerned  about  the  price  than 
about  the  finish  of  the  goods.  .With  regard  to  customs  du- 
ties, there  is  no  difference  between  the  American  and  the 
European  manufacturers;  when  a  tariff  is  being  framed  they 
affirm  their  absolute  inability  to  meet  competition  without 
protection,  and  when  they  are  charged  with  injuring  the  in- 
terests of  their  fellow  citizens,  they  boast  about  the  cheap- 
ness and  quality  of  their  products. 

III. 
Some  Americans  are  apprehensive  about  the  influence 
which  the  depression  of  prices  of  agricultural  products  may 
exercise  upon  the  foreign  commerce  and  financial  equili- 
brium of  their  country.  To  equip  their  industries  they  have 
drawn  from  Europe,  and  particularly  from  England,  an 
enormous  amount  of  capital  upon  which  they  must  pay  in- 
terest. In  the  coming  century  they  will  probably  continue 
to  draw  on  Europe,  whose  investors  will  be  attracted  by  a 
difference  in  the  rates  of  interest,  and  in  consequence  the 
foreign  indebtedness  will  not  soon  disappear.  Their  in- 
terest-indebtedness is  settled  by  the  excess  of  exports  over 
imports,  and  low  prices  consequently  render  their  burden 
heavier:  assuming  that  prices  have  fallen  fifty  per  cent — it 


494  The  American  Laborer 

has  not  been  that  much,  but  it  might  be — it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  export  two  units  in  place  of  one,  in  order  to  settle 
the  account. 

The  depression  of  agricultural  produce  undoubtedly  re- 
duces the  purchasing  power  of  American  farmers  who  have 
little  to  sell  but  cereals,  and  the  general  economic  condi- 
tion of  the  nation  is  affected  thereby.  Farm  laborers,  on 
the  other  hand,  whose  wages  have  not  decreased  and  prob- 
ably will  not  decrease — in  any  event  not  so  much  as  the 
prices  of  farm  products — will  retain  their  present  purchas- 
ing power.  Moreover,  the  farmers  will  probably  overcome 
a  part  of  their  difficulties  in  the  next  century,  by  modifying 
their  system  of  cultivation.  Manufactures  and  manufac- 
turers are  not  at  present  afflicted  with  a  depression  of  this 
nature  and  it  is  possible  that  they  will  entirely  escape  it, 
although  the  chances  are  that  the  prices  of  most  manu- 
factured products  will  fall  rather  than  rise.  As  for  the  bal- 
ance of  trade,  the  customs  statistics  show  that  the  exports 
exceeded  the  imports  in  seventeen  out  of  the  last  twenty 
years.43  America  will  have  to  make  a  greater  effort  in  the 
future  to  pay  her  creditors,  but  she  has  done  it  in  the  past 


43  From  1846  to  1873,  w'th  the  exception  of  three  years,  the  im- 
ports exceeded  the  exports;  from  1874  to  1899  inclusive,  with  the 
exception  of  the  four  years  1875,  1888,  1889  and  1893,  there  was  an 
excess  of  exports.  The  maximum  excess  of  exports,  $615,432,676, 
occurred  in  1898;  previous  to  1897  the  largest  excess  was  that  of 
1879.  $264,661,666,  in  which  year  there  was  an  enormous  exporta- 
tion of  wheat;  the  excess  in  1809  was  $529,874,813.  The  value  of 
the  wheat  exports  has  diminished,  and  those  of  cotton  and  domestic 
animals  have  fluctuated,  without  justifying  the  statement  that 
they  have  regularly  diminished;  in  general,  the  value  of  the  agri- 
cultural exports  has  varied  rather  than  decreased  since  1880,  and 
is  greater  than  it  was  between  1870  and  1875,  a  period  that  was, 
however,  marked  by  a  crisis.  The  exports  of  domestic  manufac- 
tures have  increased,  both  relatively  and  absolutely;  in  1870  manu- 
factured products  constituted  15  per  cent  of  the  total  exports; 
agricultural  products  79  per  cent;  and  the  mines,  forests,  fisheries, 
etc.,  contributed  the  rest.  In  1899,  manufactured  products  formed 
28.13  per  cent,  and  agricultural  products  65.20  per  cent,  of  the 
total  exports. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  495 

and  she  will  discover  a  way  of  doing  it  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. 

IV. 

As  a  result  of  the  development  of  industry,  gigantic  for- 
tunes will  still  be  amassed,  and  wealth  will  continue  to  in- 
crease rapidly,  although  less  rapidly  perhaps  than  in  the 
second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  which  has  been  so  pro- 
lific of  industrial  improvements. 

American  industry  has  been  stimulated  by  the  importance 
of  the  American  consumption.  This  will  certainly  not  dimin- 
ish in  the  next  century  because  in  thirty  years  the  United 
States  will  probably  have  a  hundred  million  inhabitants. 
The  average  consumption  per  capita  is  at  present  greater  than 
in  continental  Europe,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  standard  of  life  or  its  derivative,  the  total  consumption, 
of  the  American  people  will  fall.  But  the  increase  of  den- 
sity will  modify  the  conditions  of  living  of  the  workman's 
family. 

V. 

As  further  consequences,  the  urban  populations  will  as- 
sume greater  proportions,  and  the  influx  of  European  immi- 
grants will  continue,  although  somewhat  reduced  by  a 
diminution  of  the  European  birth-rate  and  probably  by  a 
decrease  in  the  difference  between  European  and  American 
wages.  However,  Europe  will  continue  to  supply  labor  for 
a  long  time  yet,  and  the  attraction  exerted  by  the  superi- 
ority of  American  wages,  even  if  this  grows  less,  will  not 
fail. 

VI. 

That  the  socialists  should  persist  in  describing  the  con- 
temporary concentration  of  industry  as  the  first  step  in  the 
suppression  of  the  wage-system,  is  somewhat  astonishing. 
This  is  exactly  what  it  is  not.  As  concentration  proceeds 
and  industry  develops,  the  employers  decrease  and  the  em- 
ployees increase,  in  number.     The  character  of  the  employ- 


496  The  American  Laborer 

er  is  changed,  also,  because  in  most  cases  the  enterprise 
takes  the  form  of  a  stock-company  and  is  managed  by  a 
board  of  directors  instead  of  a  proprietor;  but  the  directors 
exercise  the  authority  of  an  employer  over  the  employees. 
As  I  have  said,  this  movement  is  gathering  momentum;  it 
fellows  that  the  wage-earning  class  will  expand.  It  may 
happen,  however,  that  the  participation  of  workmen  in  the 
management  through  the  purchase  of  stock,  as  is  frequently 
seen  in  the  Australian  colonies  to-day,  will  be  more  com- 
mon. Such  a  change  would  entail  important  consequences 
and  in  all  probability  would  exercise  a  conciliatory  influence. 

VII. 

The  negro  problem  is  one  that  cannot  be  settled  by  law  or 
in  a  day.  A  larger  proportion  of  the  negroes  will  probably 
be  found  in  the  workshops  and  factories,  despite  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  whites.  In  any  event,  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments having  been  started  and  developed  at  various 
points  in  the  South,  the  negroes  will  become,  like  the  immi- 
grants, one  of  the  competing  factors  in  the  supply  of  labor, 
especially  if  education  succeeds  in  making  them  more  ambi- 
tious and  if  their  white  brethren  cease  to  regard  them  as  a 
dead  weight  that  retards  the  progress  of  American  civiliza- 
tion. 

VIII. 

Immigration  is  another  irritating  problem  that  will  con- 
tinue to  be  troublesome  in  the  early  part  of  the  approaching 
century.  No  doubt  restrictive  measures  will  be  taken — and 
will  fail  to  do  their  work  effectively — but  I  do  not  believe 
that  immigration  will  be  completely  prohibited  while  the 
United  States  is  in  its  period  of  expansion.  Diverse  racial 
elements  with  their  differing  aptitudes  and  ideas  will  con- 
tinue to  be  infused  into  the  body  social,  altering  and  diversi- 
fying it.  But  the  social  constitution  of  America  is  robust 
enough  to  absorb  these  elements  little  by  little:  by  educa- 
tion and  the  action  of  environment  and  contact  she  will  as- 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  497 

similate  them  enough  to  maintain  the  American  type,   al- 
though modified  by  time  and  the  fusion  of  blood. 

IX. 

The  level  of  wages  being  intimately  connected  with  the 
wealth  and  industrial  productivity  of  a  country,  I  am  con- 
fident that  it  will  remain  high  in  America.  Will  it  rise 
higher,  or  will  it  have  a  tendency  to  fall?  This  is  a  delicate 
question  that  can  only  be  answered  conditionally. 

If  the  demand  for  labor  in  agriculture  and  manufactures 
does  not  keep  pace  with  immigration,  wages  may  fall,  and 
in  a  stretch  of  thirty  years,  there  seems  to  me  about  as 
much  chance  for  a  decline,  caused  by  the  abundance  of 
labor,  as  for  an  advance  resulting  from  a  productivity  and 
distribution  more  favorable  to  the  wage-earner. 

X. 

The  American  workman  whose  parents  have  lived  in 
America  for  several  generations,  is  of  a  superior  type.  Rea- 
sons for  this  superiority  are  found  in  the  high  wages  which 
have  given  him  more  refined  habits  of  life  than  those  of  the 
average  workman  of  continental  Europe,  in  the  schools 
which  mould  him  in  the  same  type  as  the  bourgeois,  and 
in  the  democratic  character  of  the  institutions  and  customs 
of  the  nation.  .This  type  of  workman  will  persist,  as  the 
general  American  type  will  persist,  however  great  the 
intermingling  of  the  different  and  inferior  types  that  make 
their  way  into  American  industry. 

XI. 
At  the  same  time  that  the  development  and  concentration 
of  industry  will  have  increased  the  number  and  proportion 
of  wage-earners,  the  democratic  constitution  of  the  country 
and  the  public  schools — which  will  doubtless  also  develop— 
will  have  strengthened  the  political  influence  and  capacity 
of  the  laboring  classes,  both  in  municipal  and  federal 
politics.  Legislation  and  the  budget  will  feel  the  effects, 
33 


498  The  American  Laborer 

and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  system  of 
state  intervention  will  gain  ground,  constituting  probably  a 
certain  check  to  private  industry. 

The  labor  unions  will  have  increased  in  number  and  im- 
proved in  organization,  and  they  will  continue  the  fight  for 
more  advantageous  conditions:  limitation  of  the  working- 
day,  higher  wages,  etc.  They  will  furnish  workmen  the 
means  by  which  combination  will  be  made  more  effective 
in  the  regulation  of  the  supply  and  demand  of  labor  than 
it  is  to-day,  and  they  will  constitute  a  power  which  will 
have  to  be  treated  seriously,  and  which,  thanks  to  the 
improvement  of  custom  and  law,  will  probably  work  with 
greater  regularity.  But  in  any  event,  the  power  of  the 
union  will  not  be  equal,  nor  equally  efficacious,  in  all  classes 
of  labor;  as  at  present,  the  trades  in  which  wages  are  high 
will  have  an  advantage  over  those  in  which  wages  are  low, 
and  in  industries  in  which  concentration  is  most  pro- 
nounced, the  unions  will  meet  much  stronger  resistance. 

If  wages  do  begin  to  fall,  the  unions  will  oppose  an 
energetic  resistance  and  strikes  will  be  frequent.  Arbitra- 
tion will  be  powerless  to  quiet  the  agitation,  and  in  the  end 
the  laboring  classes  will  have  to  accept  a  reduction  of 
nominal  wages.  But  in  this  event  distribution  among  the 
three  factors  would  be  modified.  Before  the  resistance  of 
which  we  have  spoken  could  take  place,  entrepreneurs 
would  be  obliged  to  accept  a  reduction  of  profits  much 
greater  than  the  subsequent  reduction  of  wages. 

The  unions  will  probably  have  obtained  legal  recognition 
in  every  state,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  recognition  will 
then  imply  a  serious  responsibility.  If  without  detracting 
from  the  services  which  the  unions  render  their  members, 
the  courts  succeed  in  preventing  them  from  oppressing 
non-union  workmen,  and  if  education  gives  them  a  better 
understanding  of  the  relations  between  labor  and  industrial 
enterprise,  the  laboring  classes  will  enjoy  at  once  the  bene- 
fits of  association  and  those  of  liberty.  If  these  conditions 
are  not  fulfilled,  the  unions  will  constitute  a  permanent 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  499 

menace   to   industry,   and  will  necessarily   discourage   en- 
terprise. 

Just  here  is  one  of  the  dangers  of  the  future.  The  labor 
union  is  a  durable  form  of  association  and  praiseworthy 
in  principle,  but  it  menaces  the  freedom  of  the  entrepreneur 
by  assuming  to  interfere  in  the  management  of  his  business, 
and  threatens  the  liberty  of  the  workman  by  attempting  to 
force  him  to  submit  to  its  laws  and  its  leaders,  both  of 
which  may  be  tyrannical.  Let  us  hope  that  liberty  itself 
will  correct  the  abuses  of  the  monopolistic  tendency  which 
issues  from  liberty.  But  success  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
the  firm  maintenance  by  the  state  of  the  rights  of  liberty. 

XII. 

Associations  of  employers  have  existed  for  many  years. 
The  employers  will  be  led  to  combine  more  freely  in  the 
future,  opposing  association  with  association  in  order  not 
to  be  dominated  by  the  unions  in  the  purchase  of  labor,  and 
restricting  competition  in  order  to  control  prices  in  the 
sale  of  their  products.  The  combination  of  producers, 
whether  known  as  trust,  ring,  pool,  union  or  syndicate  will 
undergo  a  great  development  in  the  approaching  century, 
great  enough  perhaps  to  frighten  legislatures  into  threat- 
ening the  freedom  of  commerce.  And  yet,  so  long  as  law 
and  custom  preserve  the  liberty  of  labor,  we  may  expect 
this  principle,  like  the  lance  of  Achilles,  which  possessed 
the  power  of  healing  the  wounds  it  made,  to  raise  up  com- 
petition when  profits  become  manifestly  extortionate.  The 
energetic  and  inventive  spirit  of  the  American  people  is  a 
guarantee  of  resistance  to  monopoly. 

Association  of  all  kinds — association  of  consumers  with 
the  object  of  buying  more  advantageously,  association  of 
employers  with  the  object  of  controlling  the  market,  asso- 
ciation of  workmen  with  the  object  of  dictating  conditions 
to  employers — will  all  increase  in  the  coming  century. 

May  we  then  expect  an  equilibrium  between  the  forces  of 
labor  and  capital,  bringing  with  it  social  peace?     Such  a 


,500  The  American  Laborer 

consummation  is  to  be  desired,  but  not  predicted.  But  we 
may  rest  assured  that  employees  will  treat  with  their  em- 
ployers on  terms  more  nearly  equal,  and  it  is  not  impos- 
sible that  this  equality  will  induce  the  contesting  parties  to 
try  conciliation,  or  if  not,  arbitration,  more  frequently  than 
at  present. 

A  wider  use  of  arbitration  is  most  desirable,  and  thanks 
to  experience,  it  will  probably  be  better  understood — at 
least  we  must  hope  so — and  be  rendered  more  practicable 
than  it  is  to-day.  Ex-Mayor  Hewitt  believes  that  the  re- 
sort to  arbitration  will  become  an  established  habit  and  that 
joint  ownership  will  be  common,  uniting  the  interests  of 
capital  and  labor.44 

XIII. 

Doubtless,  Air.  Hewitt  has  chiefly  in  mind  some  form  of 
profit-sharing,  labor-premium,  ownership  of  stock  by  work- 
men, or  cooperation  in  production. 

The  labor-premium  has  been  in  use  for  a  very  long  time, 
is  easily  applied,  and  will  probably  come  into  wider  use. 
The  ownership  of  stock  is  of  possible  realization  where 
wages  are  sufficiently  high  and  the  workmen  economical. 
Profit-sharing  is  a  form  of  legitimate  remuneration  which 
interests  the  personnel  in  the  success  of  the  business  with- 
out emasculating  the  power  of  the  management,  and  it  will 
probably  win  a  more  important  place  than  its  present  em- 
ployment in  America  would  lead  one  to  expect.  The 
American  workman  is  intelligent  enough  to  comprehend 
the  system,  but  he  dislikes  a  binding  agreement  with  his 
employer,  and  I  cannot  believe  that  this  place  will  be  as 
important  as  the  theory  would  justify  us  in  believing  if  its 
application  was  as  easy  as  its  aim  is  generous. 

As  for  cooperative  production,  its  success  is  problemat- 
ical.    Consumers'  leagues,  credit  associations  and  farmers' 

"  I  am  satisfied  that  we  shall  not  be  long  in  adopting  a  similar 
m   of   settling  disputes   by  voluntary   action.   .   .    ."     Iron   and 
Labor,  p.  17.     See  also  p.  23. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  501 

alliances  for  the  sale  of  their  products,  will  probably  be 
formed,  and  in  my  judgment,  if  they  are  well  managed, 
may  have  a  very  extensive  development,  as  the  consumers' 
society  and  the  loan  and  building  association  have  already 
had  in  England  and  the  United  States  respectively.  Such 
associations  have  a  much  better  chance  of  being  organized, 
and  of  enduring  when  organized,  than  ambitious  manufac- 
turing companies  founded  by  workmen  on  cooperative 
principles. 

XIV. 

If  wages  do  fall,  would  not  the  condition  of  the  laborer 
deteriorate  and  a  belief  in  further  progress  be  logically 
impossible?  Not  necessarily.  I  have  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  wages  fell  in  California  as  communication  with 
the  rest  of  the  United  States  became  freer,  but  we  have 
seen  that  wages  increased  in  the  United  States  as  a  whole, 
and  the  condition  of  the  laborer  improved.  Communica- 
tion with  Europe  may  have  a  similar  effect  upon  the  United 
States,  and  the  wage-level  of  the  civilized  world  may  rise  as 
that  of  the  United  States  descends — an  outlook  which 
though  in  harmony  with  the  law  of  progress,  is  not  reas- 
suring to  the  American  workman. 

But  in  all  probability  improvements  in  production  will  be 
made  and  the  abundance  of  products  will  lower  their  price 
and  thus  reduce  the  cost  of  living.  In  this  event,  if  the 
currency  be  not  debased,  real  zvages  will  gain  by  the  rise  in 
the  purchasing  power  of  money  what  nominal  wages  will 
have  lost.  And  the  important  thing  is  the  real  wage — the 
quantum  of  comfort  that  the  laborer  can  procure  in  ex- 
change for  his  labor. 

Whether  a  rise  of  real  or  nominal  wages  would  solve  the 
social  problem  is  another  cognate  question.  From  the 
standpoint  of  comfort,  we  may  affirm  that  it  would  con- 
tribute to  the  elevation  of  the  laborer's  standard  of  living. 
But  from  the  point  of  view  of  social  harmony,  the  answer 
would  be  negative  rather  than  affirmative,  because  it  is  not 


502  The  American  Laborer 

the  poverty-stricken  laborer  who  disturbs  himself  about 
higher  wages;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  those  who  have  re- 
sources enough  to  support  organized  resistance,  and  suffi- 
cient intellect  and  pretentions  to  pursue  social  reformation 
and  take  part  in  politics. 

XV. 

It  is  very  probable  that  new  forms  of  provident  institutions 
— mutual  aid,  insurance,  pensions,  etc. — will  have  been 
devised,  in  addition  to  those  we  now  have,  and  that 
these  will  have  been  multiplied  and  consolidated  by  time 
and  experience.  It  is  certainly  desirable  that  this  should 
be  so,  and  the  progress  already  accomplished  in  the  last 
fifty  years  augurs  well  for  the  future. 

XVI. 

Despite  the  advantages  of  education  and  experience  that 
will  be  theirs,  the  laboring  classes  will  retain  their  suscep- 
tibility to  the  blandishments  of  innovators,  among  whom 
will  be  found  honest  enthusiasts,  malignant  pessimists,  and 
ambitious  demagogues  bent  on  currying  popular  favor. 

In  his  work  entitled  The  Labor  Movement  in  America, 
Professor  Ely  describes  the  infirmities  of  society,  and  after 
concluding  that  the  situation  is  unendurably  bad,  proposes 
four  remedies:  the  labor-union,  the  school,  the  state  and  the 
church. 

I  have  just  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  union  will  give 
greater  force  to  the  demands  of  the  workmen  and  will 
exert  an  important  influence  in  determining  the  equilibrium 
between  the  demand  for  and  supply  of  labor,  but  it  will  not 
settle  all  difficulties. 

It  will  be  within  the  power  of  the  state  to  do  much  good 
by  enacting  laws  for  the  regulation  of  workshops,  unsani- 
tary dwellings,  immigration  and  arbitration;  four  important 
matters  in  which  the  state  may  rightfully  interfere,  although 
such  interference  has  already  been  excessive  at  times.  The 
Americans  should  be  careful  to  avoid  this  excess. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  503 

The  state  will  also  be  able  to  monopolize  certain  indus- 
tries destined  to  this  end,  and  the  Americans  may  possibly 
be  led  into  extremes  in  this  direction.  But  state  regula- 
tion and  ownership  will  change  neither  the  rate  of  wages — 
whatever  it  may  be — nor  the  prices  of  commodities,  nor  the 
general  status  of  the  laborer,  if  the  general  conditions  of 
wealth  and  production  are  not  changed. 

In  America,  as  in  Europe,  the  encroachments  of  the 
public  authority  upon  the  domain  of  private  industry  will 
constitute  a  standing  menace.  This  is  a  movement  of 
which  we  must  be  the  more  watchful,  because  the  line  of 
demarcation  between  what  the  state  should  and  should  not 
undertake  is  very  obscure,  varies  according  to  circum- 
stances, and  is  in  continual  danger  of  being  passed  from 
the  pressure  which  democracies  exert  upon  their  govern- 
ments to  cross  it.  It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  enlightened 
citizens  and  the  real  statesmen  of  America,  I  do  not  say 
of  the  politicians,  to  resist  this  pressure. 

I  have  been  all  my  life  a  devoted  advocate  of  the  school, 
and  I  firmly  believe  in  the  power  of  education  to  develop 
intelligence,  to  increase  productive  power,  and  to  form  a 
national  spirit.  The  Americans  have  a  keen  appreciation 
of  what  they  owe  to  their  educational  system,  whose  meth- 
ods and  benefits  I  have  described  in  another  work."  But 
the  school  does  not  regulate  the  conditions  of  labor  and 
the  production  of  wealth.  Primary  education  arouses  the 
intelligence,  renders  the  people  capable  of  doing  their  work 
more  economically,  and  interests  them  in  social  questions; 
but  it  is  too  elementary  to  inculcate  in  the  youthful  mind 
sound  ideas  upon  subjects  with  which  the  instructors  them- 
selves are  often  unfamiliar,  and  it  leaves  the  people  open 
to  Utopian  doctrines  which  please  their  sense  of  distribu- 
tive justice  and  seem  to  them  favorable  to  the  interests  of 
their  class. 


45  U Enscignement  Primaire  dans  les  Pays  Civilises,  Berger-Levrault, 
Paris,  1897. 


504  The  American  Laborer 

The  church  exercises  a  powerful  spiritual  influence  upon 
its  members;  Catholic  or  Protestant,  it  teaches  charity  and 
resignation.  Charity  may  be  of  assistance  by  inspiring  in 
the  higher  classes  a  greater  interest  in  institutions  of 
patronage  and  relief,  but  resignation  is  repudiated  to-day 
by  the  great  majority  of  workmen;  they  aspire  to  increase 
their  material  welfare,  believe  they  have  a  right  to  greater 
comfort,  accuse  the  employers  of  frustrating  their  efforts, 
and  desire  open  battle  in  order  to  conquer  their  oppressors. 

The  church  is  on  the  highest  moral  ground  when  it 
endeavors  to  reconcile  the  classes  by  teaching  the  brother- 
hood of  man,  when  it  recalls  to  men's  minds  what  are  the 
necessary  and  fundamental  principles  of  civil  society,  and 
when  it  attempts  to  apply  these  principles  in  works  or 
institutions  of  social  solidarity.'18  But  even  in  the  church 
there  are  members  who  undermine  the  foundations  of 
society  in  the  hope  of  rearing  an  entirely  new  structure 
upon  an  ideal  plan  of  human  brotherhood. 

XVII. 

Thirty  years  from  now  the  economic  principles  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution  will  be  the  same  as  they  are  to-day. 
But  customs  will  probably  be  modified,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  employers  will  be  less  arbitrary  in  the  expression  of 
their  will,  that  they  will  assume  a  more  conciliatory  attitude 
in  dealing  with  their  employees,  that  they  will  permit  their 
employees  to  associate  without  interference,  and  that  they 
will  consent  to  treat  with  them  and  their  organizations  in 


**  I  may  quote  upon  this  subject  a  sentence  from  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Catholic  Congress,  held  at  Chicago,  in  1893:  "We 
declare  that  no  remedies  can  meet  with  our  approval  save  those 
which  recognize  the  right  of  private  ownership  of  property  and 
human  liberty."  The  Congress  deplored  the  antagonistic  spirit 
which  has  arisen  between  employers  and  employees,  and  recom- 
mended conciliation  and  arbitration,  the  reform  of  tenement  houses 
and  conditions  of  living  in  the  cities,  Catholic  societies  of  insurance 
and  mutual  aid,  measures  against  intemperance,  corrupting  litera- 
ture, etc. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  505 

large  as  well  as  in  small  industries.  Authority  is  not  in- 
consistent with  benevolence  on  the  part  of  the  employer 
any  more  than  political  equality  is  inconsistent  with  the 
subordination  of  political  function.  There  is  much  to  be 
done  in  the  way  of  bringing  the  one  class  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  needs  and  feelings  of  the  other,  and  in  inculcating 
mutual  tolerance.  Benevolence  and  tolerance;  these  are 
the  ideal  solutions,  according  to  Professor  Ely,  who  asserts, 
not  without  some  exaggeration,  that  workingmen  are  dis- 
trustful and  suspicious  because  they  have  reason  to  mis- 
trust the  class  which  opposes  every  reform  profitable  to 
them.47 

XVIII. 

Socialism,  like  the  .wage-system,  will  endure.  Its  pro- 
gramme, no  doubt,  will  have  changed,  because  the  favorite 
theories  of  to-day  will  have  given  way  to  new  Utopias  after 
having  demonstrated  their  powerlessness  to  accomplish  the 
revolution  or  evolution  which  is  now  presented  to  the 
workingman  as  imminent,  just  as  the  old  theories  of  Four- 
ier, Saint-Simon  and  other  reformers,  which  were 
stamped  with  the  same  promise,  have  gone  out  of  fashion.43 
But  if  those  evolutionists  who  predict  that  the  displace- 

"  The  Labor  Movement  in  America,  pp.  315,  321. 

48  In  comparing  the  speeches  made  in  the  National  Constituent 
Assembly  of  1848  with  those  made  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in 
1896,  one  finds  the  same  fund  of  ideas,  the  same  belief  that  society 
is  on  the  verge  of  transformation,  and  that  the  precursory  signs  of 
this  transformation  are  unmistakable.  Saint-Simon  and  Fourier 
had  said  the  same  thing  during  the  First  Empire  and  the  Restora- 
tion. Louis  Blanc,  speaking  of  letters  that  had  been  written  to 
him  by  manufacturers  while  he  was  presiding  over  the  Commission 
of  Labor  at  Luxembourg,  said  that  nothing  could  be  more  decisive, 
that  they  constituted  the  "  last  will  and  testament  of  industry 
founded  upon  competition."  M.  Guesde  thinks  he  has  discovered 
the  signs  of  approaching  transformation  in  the  grand  capitalistic 
industries  of  the  present.  The  social  organization  founded  upon 
liberty  and  private  property  outlived  the  predictions  of  Fourier 
and  Louis  Blanc,  and  it  will  survive  the  speech  of  M.  Guesde, 
although  it  will  be  disturbed  by  the  agitation  produced  by  the 
socialistic  propaganda. 


506  The  American  Laborer 

ment  of  capitalism  by  collectivism  is  imminent  and  inevit- 
able, will  not  have  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  their  predic- 
tions realized  in  the  early  years  of  the  next  century,  they 
will  at  least  be  allowed  to  behold  a  new  phase  of  the 
socialistic  doctrine,  whose  different  characteristics  have 
recently  been  set  forth  by  an  Italian  professor,  Achille 
Loria,  who  is  much  too  indulgent  towards  the  evolutionistic 
doctrine  of  Karl  Marx  for  my  taste.49 

Socialism,  Proteus  like,  assumes  diverse  and  even  contra- 
dictory forms,  but  always  remains  the  same.  Its  essence  is 
in  the  desire  for  greater  enjoyment;  in  the  "struggle  for  a 
higher  standard  of  living  " ;  in  the  affirmation  that  society, 
which  it  calls  capitalistic,  reserves  all  the  comforts  for  an 
undeserving  minority  and  withholds  them  from  the  toilers 
who  created  them;  in  the  dream  of  replacing  capitalism  by 
a  form  of  association  in  which  all  shall  be  equal,50  the  work- 
man freed  from  all  subordination  to  a  master,  the  poor  raised 
up  and  the  rich  cast  down;  in  the  blind  faith  that  it  is  pos- 
sible to  devise  legal  contrivances  which  will  give  more  leis- 
ure to  those  who  are  overworked  to-day  and  at  the  same 
time  assure  these  comforts  to  the  masses — that  is  to  say, 
practically,  increase  social  wealth  without  limit.  These  feel- 
ings and  dreams  will  continue  to  exercise  a  powerful  attrac- 
tion over  simple  and  enthusiastic  natures,  and  they  will 
create  grave  difficulties  in  the  coming  generation:  they  are 
too  pleasing  to  the  hopes  and  desires  of  the  laborer  to  dis- 
appear. 

The  force  of  socialism  resides  partly  in  the  upward  move- 
ment which  education,  industrial  progress,  the  increase  of 
comfort,  and  the  political  influence  of  democracy  have 
imparted  to  the  lower  classes:  in  the  United  States  this  force 
will   certainly   be   quite   as   powerful   in   the   next   century. 

48  Problemes  Sociaux  Conicmporaincs,  by  Achille  Loria,  published 
in  the  Bibliothequc  Sociologiquc  Internationale. 

50  This  desire  for  equality  is  found  in  contemporary  socialism, 
but  Fourier  and  the  Saint-Simonians  admitted  the  necessity  of 
social  inequalities. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  507 

They  will  probably  be  saying  there  thirty  years  from  now, 
what  Mr.  Gunton  said  a  few  years  ago :  "  There  never  was 
a  time  when  the  demands  of  the  labor  question  were  so 
urgent  nor  when  the  failure  to  adequately  meet  those  de- 
mands by  a  scientific  solution  involved  so  much  danger  to 
the  well-being  and  progress  of  society  as  it  does  to-day. 
Not  because  there  is  more  poverty  or  worse  degrees  of  it 
in  the  world  than  in  former  times,  but  because  it  is  more  in- 
tense in  kind  and  dangerous  in  character."  51 

The  political  assemblies,  elected  by  universal  suffrage, 
will  probably  contain  mere  socialists  than  they  do  to-day. 

XIX. 

Every  age  has  its  problems  and  its  elements  of  disorder. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  resort  to  evolutionist  theories,  more 
pretentious  than  new,  to  understand  that  the  chain  of  social 
phenomena  which  follow  one  another  in  time  is  composed 
of  links  which  hold  together  without  being  homogeneous, 
and  that  the  perpetual  change  which  is  the  normal  condi- 
tion of  the  world,  usually,  but  not  necessarily,  implies  a 
progress;  this  is  the  moral  of  history  in  all  ages.  The 
emancipation  of  the  cities  in  the  middle  ages  and  the  re- 
ligious emancipation  of  the  sixteenth  century  engendered 
long  agitations,  but  civilization  was  not  extinguished 
thereby. 

Contemporary  economic  society  may  be  compared  to  a 
ship  whose  progress  necessitates  incessant  modification  of 
the  rigging  as  parts  of  the  latter  become  unserviceable. 
Wage-labor  works  the  ship  and  the  officers  mix  but  little 
with  the  crew,  while  every  now  and  then  mutinies  occur. 
But  sufficient  order  is  usually  maintained  and  the  ship 
holds  her  course,  with  speed  dependent  upon  the  wind. 
But  it  navigates  waters  upon  which  tempests  occur  and  the 
ship  takes  water;  charity  and  sympathy  must  be  at  the 
pumps  if  the  ship  is  to  be  kept  fairly  free  from  water. 

61  Wealth  and  Progress,  p.  i. 


508  The  American  Laborer 

Social  unrest  will  continue,  and  upon  this  point  I  cannot 
do  better  than  quote  the  words  of  Mr.  Gilman:  "A  sober 
mind  is  indispensable  in  considering  what  may  be  done  to 
relieve  social  troubles.  The  difficulty  is  not  one  of  yester- 
day's birth.  It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  any  generation 
will  put  an  end  to  it  completely.  '  There  is  no  social  ques- 
tion,' said  Gambetta,  '  there  are  social  questions.'  There 
are  many  of  them,  and  no  generation  of  mankind  will  answer 
the  last." 52 

Our  century  has  witnessed  an  industrial  progress  greater, 
more  rapid,  and  more  general  than  any  other  in  history. 
It  is  not  astonishing  that  this  progress,  by  increasing  wealth 
and  contributing  to  the  intellectual  emancipation  of  the 
masses  through  education  and  the  growth  of  comfort, 
should  have  stimulated  the  desire  for  enjoyment  and  have 
aroused  irritating  questions  about  the  distribution  of  the 
product  of  industry.  When  Karl  Marx  wrote  that  the  po- 
litical, juristic,  religious,  and  literary  phenomena  of  human 
societies  depend  upon  the  economic  factor,  he  expressed  an 
idea  which  is  partly  verified  by  the  facts,  although  the  idea, 
whose  import  he  exaggerated,  was  not  original  with  him. 
It  would  have  been  astonishing  indeed,  if  the  United  States, 
where  this  progress  has  been  more  wonderful  than  in  other 
countries,  and  where  minds  are  free  and  interest  in  such 
matters  keen,  had  remained  unacquainted  with  the  questions 
which  agitate  western  and  central  Europe. 

There  will  be  agitations  in  the  new  world  thirty  years 
from  now.  But  its  vital  power  is  such  that  I  do  not  believe 
its  vigorous  constitution  will  be  debilitated.  At  bottom, 
the  Americans  possess  a  certain  conservatism  which  does  not 
desert  them  in  the  midst  of  the  incessant  agitations  that 
occur:  "  they  are  like  a  tree  whose  pendulous  shoots  quiver 
and  rustle  with  the  slightest  breeze,  while  its  roots  enfold 
the  rock  with  a  grasp  which  storms  cannot  loosen." 5 

"  Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  123. 

M  Quoted  from  Bryce's  The  American  Commonwealth  in  Socialism 
and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  75. 


Present  Conditions  and  Future  Prospects  509 

Nothing  is  singular  enough  to  astonish  the  American 
people  and  they  are  very  fond  of  new  experiences.  But 
sonorous  words,  when  devoid  of  real  meaning,  do  not  de- 
ceive them  long:  in  politics,  they  "love  the  concrete."5 
The  intense  democracy  that  works  in  their  midst  has  its 
tumultuous  and  disquieting  outbursts,  but  till  now  it  has 
always  returned  to  reason,  after  a  passing  ebullition,  and 
continued  to  prosper.  They  have  faith  in  their  own  destiny 
and  are  confident  of  progress;  a  little  intoxicated  by  their 
prodigious  success,  they  are  prone  to  believe  that  the  sceptre 
of  civilization  is  now  in  their  hands.  This  optimistic  faith 
is  itself  a  barrier  against  violent  revolution. 

Despite  the  agitations  which  may  arise,  I  do  not  doubt 
that  the  twentieth  century  will  witness  a  further  increase  in 
the  prosperity  of  the  United  States.  Chimerical  solutions 
of  the  labor  questions  will  succeed  no  better  than  they  have 
succeeded  in  this  century,  but  as  in  this  century  on  the  other 
hand,  and  particularly  in  its  latter  half,  the  condition  of  the 
laboring  class  will  probably  be  improved  in  many  particu- 
lars. With  the  Americans'  confidence  in  their  own  future, 
I  may  say  of  their  industry  and  its  problems  what  I  have 
recently  said  of  agriculture  and  its  problems  in  the  United 
States:     Fata  viam  invenient. 

54  "  '  Liberty,  Equality,  and  Fraternity,'  these  three  great  words 
have  had  magical  power  over  the  French  mind.  In  the  United 
States  the  formula  has  had  no  vogue.  The  American,  according 
to  Mr.  Bryce,  '  is  capable  of  an  ideality  surpassing  that  of  English- 
men or  Frenchmen,'  but  in  the  political  sphere,  as  elsewhere,  he 
loves  the  concrete."     Socialism  and  the  American  Spirit,  p.  60. 


INDEX 


"  Age  of  Steel,"  quoted,  166- 
167. 

Agreements  between  laborer 
and  employer,  217-220. 

Agriculture  (in  U.  S),  principal 
source  of  wealth,  1 ;  value  and 
growth  of  products,  1-4,  22- 
23;  wages  in,  296-297;  in  fu- 
ture, 492,  493-495- 

Alabama,  factory  laws  in,  113. 

Aldrich,  Senator,  report  quoted, 
285-286,  298  (note),  310,  410 
(note),  414  (note),  420  (note). 

Amalgamated  Association  of 
Iron  and  Steel-Workers,  179, 
185,  194-195,  225,  240-250,  301. 

American  Federation  of  Labor, 
127-128,  129-130,  132,  138,  141, 
181,  185,  202  (note).  203-208, 
211,  213,  223,  225-226,  227-228, 
342  (note),  459,  461,  (see 
"  Labor  Unions.") 

"American  Federationist," 
quoted,  205,  360  (note). 

American  Railway  Union,  208, 
254-257,  459. 

"  Anti-trust  Act,"  263-264. 

Apprenticeship,  152-170. 

Arbel,  P.,  quoted,  102,  176-177. 

Arbitration,  223,  464-465,  500. 

Atkinson,  Edward,  quoted,  71 
(note),  82,  276-277,  281,  369- 
370,  41 7- 

Auchmuty,  Col.,  163. 

Australia,  wages  in,  333-334- 

B. 

Baldwin  Locomotive  Works, 
172,  307. 

Bastiat,  quoted,  94,  465;  refer- 
ence, 361. 

Beardsley,  Charles,  quoted,  126- 
127,  385  (note),  389  (note). 

Beauregard,  M.,  quoted,  360; 
reference,  390  (note). 

34 


Belgium,  workman's  budget  in, 
426-427. 

Bemis,  Mr.,  quoted,  147  (note). 

Blacklisting,   270. 

Blacksmiths,  International 
Brotherhood  of,  158. 

"  Blair  Report,"  quoted,  381, 
400. 

Blanc,  Louis,  505  (note). 

Bolles,  Albert  S.,  reference,  112 
(note),  152  (note),  162,  168; 
quoted,  232  (note),  258,  264 
(note),  267. 

Boycotts,  270. 

Brass  Workers,  International 
Brotherhood  of,  159,  210. 

Breckenridge,  Mr.,  quoted,  333 
(note). 

Bricklayers  and  Masons,  Inter- 
national Union  of,  210,  225. 

Bruwaert,  M.,  quoted,  117-118, 
200  (note),  415. 

Bryce,  James,  quoted,  508. 

Budgets,  Workmen's,  see 
"  Wages." 

Building  Industry  (in  U.  S.), 
value  and  growth,  23-24;  ap- 
prenticeship in,  154-158;  rela- 
tions between  labor  and  em- 
ployer, 220;  wages,  302-305. 

Burnett,  Mr.,  quoted,  272. 


Campbell,  Helen,  quoted,  343, 
355- 

Capital,  statistics  of  1890,  3-4. 

Carey,  233. 

Carnegie  Steel  Company,  55, 
240-250. 

Carpenters  and  Joiners,  Broth- 
erhood of,  196.  212,  225. 

Catholic  Church,  relations  with 
Knights  of  Labor,  202. 

Cawardine,  William  H.,  refer- 
ence, 251  (note),  252. 


512 


Index 


Census  of  1890,  statistics  of 
manufacture  and  agriculture, 
2-4;  completeness  of,  6  (note); 
statistics  of  iron  and  steel,  16, 
19,  20. 

Charity  (in  U.  S.),  467. 

Chesapeake     and     Ohio     Canal, 

233- 

Chevalier,    Michel,    51,    52,    232- 

233,  264. 
Chevallier,  Emile,  reference  365 

(note),  390  (note). 
Cheysson,  reference,  427. 
Chicago  Strike,  254-257. 
Child      labor,      see      "  Labor," 

"  Wages,"  &c. 
Church,  influence  on  labor,  &c, 

402-403,  504. 
Cigar-Makers'   Unions,    192-193, 

196,  211,  212  (note),  227  (note), 

233. 
Cleveland,     President,     256-257, 

439- 
Clothing,  wages  in  manufacture 

of,  3I3-3I4- 
Coal,     value    and    situation     of 

coal-fields  in    U.   S.  and  pro- 
duct, 6-8. 
Cogley,  Mr.,  quoted,  268. 
Coke,  value  of  product  in  U.  S., 

9- 
Collet,     Miss,    quoted,    340-341, 

364  (note). 
Company  Stores,  114-115,  117. 
Competition,  66;  as  determining 

wages,  382-385. 
Concentration,     movement     to- 
wards,   44-103,     438-439,    495- 

496. 
Conciliation,  see  "  Arbitration." 
Congress  (of  U.   S.),  labor  leg- 
islation,   121-122,    183-184,  256, 

263-264. 
Consumption,        as        affecting 

wages,    388;    growth    of,    470- 

471- 
Conterno,  Lucien,  184  (note). 
Cooperation,  469-470,   500-501. 
Cooper  Institute,  164. 
Copper,  production  in  U.  S.,  11- 

12. 
Cost   of   living,    as   determining 

wages,  375-381. 


Cotton,  product  and  manufac- 
ture in  U.  S.,  29-34,  54-  34i;  in 
Europe,  33  (note). 

Councils  of  the  building-trades, 
187-189. 

Coxe,  Trench,  quoted,  42. 

Cummings,  Edward,  reference, 
185,  quoted,  222. 

Custom,  as  a  factor  determin- 
ing wages,  364-366. 

D. 

Danryid,    Lemuel,    quoted,    121, 

378. 
Day,  see  "  Working  Day. 
Debs,   Eugene  V.,  251,  254-255, 

264. 
Delaware,        law        concerning 

strikes,  262-263. 
Dewey,  Prof.,  quoted,  93  (note), 

94,  305-  . 

Discipline,  see  "  Factories. 
Domestic  Service,  352-356. 
Donnelly,    Pres.,   69   (note),   315 

(note). 
Draper,     Mr.,     quoted,     67,     68 

(note). 
Drexel  Institute,  164. 
Ducpetiaux,   M.,  reference,  428. 


Education  of  laborer,  503. 

Ely,  R.  T.,  quoted,  258,  407 
(note),  451-452  (note),  486, 
502. 

Employers,  attitude  toward  con- 
centration, 88-91 ;  and  labor 
unions,  217-221;  associations 
of,  221-224,  499-500;  attitude 
toward  employees,  465-466. 

Engel,  Prof.,  quoted,  424-425, 
428-429. 

England,  strikes  in,  270-273; 
trade  unions  of,  225-229,  230 
(note);  wages  in,  324-329. 

Entrepreneur,  443-444.  455-456. 

Extractive  industries,  discussed, 
6-43- 

F. 

Factories,  discipline  and  inter- 
nal regulation,  170-177,  481. 

Falkner,  Prof.,  quoted,  410 
(note);  reference,  414  (note), 
420  (note). 


Index 


513 


Federation  of  Labor,  see 
"'  American  Federation  of  La- 
bor/' 

Female  Labor,  see  "  Labor," 
"  Wages  of  Women/'  &c. 

Fines,  see  "  Factories." 

Food-products.,  wages  in  pro- 
duction of,  308-309  (see  "  Ag- 
riculture ".). 

■"  Fortunes,"  477-478,  495. 

Fourier,  474,  505  (note),  506 
(note). 

France,  strikes  in,  270-273; 
trade  unions  in,  228-229; 
wages  in,  329-331;  workman's 
budget  in.  427-429. 

French  labor-delegates.  61-63. 
68  (note).  84.  86-87,  88,  172- 
1/5,  329,  402.  447- 

Frick.  Mr..  241-249.  295  (note). 

Fuels,  see  "  Coal,"  "  Petro- 
leum." etc. 


"  Garment  Cutters'  Associa- 
tion," see  "  United  Garment," 
etc. 

"  Gas,"  see  "  Natural  Gas." 

George,  Henry.  22?.  374  (note). 

Germany,  wages  in,  326.  331- 
332. 

Gibbons,   Cardinal.  202. 

Giddings.  Franklin  H..  quoted, 
482  (note). 

Giften,  Sir  Robert,  quoted.  272. 
327-328.  434. 

Gilman.  X.  P..  quoted,  140- 141. 
471,  474.  476.  477-478.  508. 

Gladden.  Washington,  quoted, 
485-486. 

Gold,  product  in  U.  S.,  10-11. 

Gompers,  Samuel,  128,  206,  208, 
269. 

Gould.  Dr..  quoted,  325-326,  397, 

425- 
Graffenreid,    Clara    de.    quoted, 

151- 

Grandgeorge,     M.,     quoted,    27 

(note). 
Grant.  President,  122. 
Gray.  Col..  247. 
Greeley.  Horace,  quoted.  447. 
Grille.  M..  quoted.  62. 
Guesde,  M.,  quoted  505  (note). 


Gunton,    George,    quoted,  118. 

124,     140,     150-15 1.     293.  374 

(note),    376-377,    397-399.  42-'- 
423.  424.  430.  456,  507. 

H. 

Hewitt,     A.     S.,     223-224,     371 

(note),  481,  500. 
Hollerith,  Mr.,  71.  73  (note). 
Homestead  Steel  Works.  55-56. 
Houghton,     Dr.,     discovery     of 

Marquette  Range.  13  (note). 
Hours  of  labor,  1 19-144,  483-484. 
Humphrey,  Gen..  50. 

I. 

Illinois  Steel  Company.  56-57. 
Immigration,   445-446,   495.   496- 

497- 
Independence   of   Laborer,   444- 

445- 

"  Independent  Knights  of  La- 
bor," 203. 

Industries  (American),  growth 
and  statistics  of.  6-42.  43.  438; 
concentration  of.  44-61.  63-69; 
household,  49-52:  improve- 
ments, 69-71,  73-83;  forecast. 
492. 

Ingersol,  Mr..  121. 

Inspection  of  factories,  481. 

International  Labor  Unions, 
189-196,  475  (see  "'  Labor  Un- 
ions "). 

Interstate  Commerce  Act.  263. 

Inventions  in  U.   S..  69-73. 

Iron,    ore    product    (in    U. 
12-13;    industries    (in    U.    St. 
13-22.  44. 

Iron-Heaters.  Brotherhood  of, 
222. 

Iron-Molders'  Union,  225. 

Iron  Ship-Builders,  Brother- 
hood of,  210. 

J- 
James,  Prof.,  276  (note). 
Japan,  wages  in.  334-335- 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  quoted.  30. 
Johnson.  President.  135. 
Jopling.  J.  E..  quoted.  13  (note). 
Journeymen  Tailors'  Union,  161. 


514 


Index 


Julow,  George,  183. 
Juraschek,       M.,       quoted,       16 
(note),  29  (note),  34  (note). 

K. 
Kearney,  Mr.,  121. 
Kiaer,       Mr.,      reference,      396 

(note). 
Knights  of  Labor,   180-181,  182, 

185,   196-203,  204,  206-207,  208, 

225,  254-255,  459. 
Knights  of  Saint  Crispin,  160. 

L. 

Labor  (in  U.  S.),  growth,  42-43; 
displacement,  72-73;  produc- 
tivity of,  82-85;  quality  of 
work,  85-88;  attitude  toward 
machinery,  91-95;  hours  of, 
483-484;  independence  of,  444- 
445;  quality  of,  497-498;  future 
progress  of,  502-504  (see 
"Wages");  child  labor,  105, 
106,  121,  134,  137,  I4S-IS2,  152- 
170,  176,  482;  female  labor, 
106,  134,  137,  176,  336-358,  482. 

Labor  delegates,  see  "  French 
labor  delegates." 

Labor  legislation  (in  Europe), 
104-106;  (in  U.  S.),  106-118, 
134-139,  164-165,  181-185,  229- 
231,  262-268,  273. 

Labor  Unions  123,  127-128,  155- 
158,  178-231,  457-461,  498-499; 
origin  and  beginning,  178- 
181;  legal  aspects,  181-185, 
229-231;  local  unions,  185-189; 
national  and  international  un- 
ions, 189-196;  statistics,  208; 
budget,  209-215;  non-union- 
ists, 215-217;  employers,  217- 
224;  foreign  unions,  224-231; 
effect  on  wages,  383-385  (see 
"  American  Federation  of 
Labor,"  "  Knights  of  Labor," 
etc.). 

Lasalle,  380. 

Latham,  Alexander  and  Co., 
quoted,  33  (note). 

Lathers'  Unions.  218,  239-240. 

Lavollee,  Rene,  quoted,  328-329. 

Laughlin,  Prof.,  quoted,  370, 
385. 

Lead,  product  in  U.  S.,  12. 


Legislation,  see  "  Labor  Legis- 
lation." 

Lelarge,  M.,  quoted,  62. 

Le   Play,  reference,  427. 

Leroy-Beaulieu,  quoted,  370, 
380  (note),  390  (note). 

Lestrade,  Combes  de,  quoted, 
.332. 

Living,  see  "  Cost  of  living." 

Local  labor  unions,  185-189. 

Locomotive  Engineers,  Broth- 
erhood of,  225,  254. 

Locomotive  Firemen,  Brother- 
hood of,  210-211. 

Lodges,  400-401. 

Loria,  Achille,  quoted,  506. 

Lowell  factories,  52-53,  54. 

M. 

McCleary,  Mr.,  and  Homestead 
strike,  240-250. 

McNeill,  G.  E.,  quoted,  116,  197 
(note),  378-379,  413,  462;  ref- 
erence, 120  (note). 

Machinery  (in  U.  S.),  manufac- 
ture of,  46-47,  159-160;  in- 
crease in,  53-62,  66-69;  pro- 
ductivity of,  62-63,  73-81,  82- 
88,  373;  new  inventions,  69-73, 
439-440;  attitude  of  laborer, 
91-95;  forecast,  96-103;  "  Ma- 
chinists' Unions,"  159-160;  re- 
lation to  workman,  440-442. 

Machinists'   Unions,    159-160. 

Mahanoy  Valley  and  Locust 
Mountain  Association,  222. 

Maistre,  Joseph  de,  reference, 
445- 

Mann,  Horace,  148  (note). 

Manufactures  (in  U.  S.),  devel- 
opment, 1-4,  5-6,  50-61,  66-71, 
73-81,  85-91,  96-103;  official 
statistics,  40-41;  effect  on  lab- 
orer, 91-95  (see  "  Cotton." 
"  Iron,"  "  Textile  Industries,"" 
etc.). 

Markets,  63-64. 

Marshall,  Prof.,  quoted,  90.  141 
(note),  383. 

Marx,  Karl,  197,  225,  293,  363, 
380.  474.  477.  506,  508. 

Maryland  Steel  Works,  53-55. 

Massachusetts  Board  of  Investi- 
gation, 93-94- 


Index 


515 


Massachusetts  factory  laws, 
106-107,  109-110,  113-114,  121, 
147-149,  482. 

Mexico,  wages  in,  334. 

Michigan,  wages  in,  347. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  reference, 
365  (note),  385. 

Minerals,  value  of  product  in 
U.  S.,  9-10;  non-metallic,  9; 
base  metals,  11-12  (see 
"  Gold,"  "  Silver,"  "  Copper," 
"  Iron,"  etc.). 

""  Mineral  Resources  of  U.  S.," 
quoted,  10  (note),  11  (note), 
12,  16  (note). 

Mining  wages,  297-302. 

Missouri  Supreme  Court  decis- 
ion, quoted,  183. 

N. 

National  Labor  Unions,  189-196 

(see  "  Labor  Unions  "). 
Natural  gas,  value   of  products 

(in  U.  S.),  8. 
Newcomb,   Simon,   quoted,  386- 

387.    395-396,   413    (note),   422, 

423-424.  488  (note). 
"  New-Unionism,"  226-228. 
New  York  Bureau  of  Statistics 

of  Labor.  125-126,  236-237. 
Nominal  Wages,  see  "  Wages." 
North,   S.    N.    D.,   reference   to, 

28   (note),   29   (note);    quoted, 

49-50,  68,  119,  139-140,  284,  350. 

O. 

O'Donnell,  Hugh,  241  (note). 

O'Reilly,  Mary  A.,  quoted,  346- 
347- 

"  Overtime,"  129  (see  "  Work- 
ing Day  "). 


Painters  and  Decorators,  Broth- 
erhood of,  186,  193-194,  209, 
239-240. 

Paper  money,   effect  on  wages, 

450.  .     .    . 

Patronage  (social  and  indus- 
trial), 467-468. 

Paving  Cutters'  Union,  217. 

Peck,  Mr.,  quoted,  125-126. 


Pennsylvania,    factory    laws    in, 

112,     148     (note);     apprentice 

laws.      164-165;      strike      laws, 

265-266. 
People's       Party,       "  platform  " 

quoted,  135. 
Perkins,    G.    W.,   reference,   210 

(note);  quoted,  227  (note). 
Petroleum,  value  of  product  in 

U.  S.,  8. 
Piece-work,  292-294. 
Pinkerton,     Mr.,     quoted,     243, 

245-246. 
Pinkerton      Detective      Agency 

and    Homestead    Strike,    240- 

250. 
Powderly,   T.   V..    198,    199,   201, 

202,      203,     246,     452     (note); 

quoted.  92,  163,  167. 
Powers.  Mr.,  quoted,  160  (note), 

213  (note),  278  (note),  374. 
Printing  and  Engraving,  wages 

for,  3I4-3I7- 
Productivity,      as      determining 

wages,  367-375.  388:  of  labor, 

82-85.  440,  442-443,  455- 
Profit-sharing,  468-469,  500. 
Protective    system,    25-26,    466- 

467,  492-493- 
Proudhon,  363. 
Provident      societies,     458-459 

502. 
Public    Works,    wages    of    em- 
ployees on,  305-306. 
Pullman.  Mr.,  250-254.  275. 
Pullman     City     strike,     see 

"  Strikes." 

Q- 

Quality  of  American  workman- 
ship, 85-88. 

R. 
Railway  Union,  see  "  American 

Railway  Union." 
Ray,  Mr.,  246. 
Real  wages,  see  "  Wages." 
Rent,  cost  of,  417-420. 
Ricardo,  385. 
Rondot,    Natalis,    reference,    39 

(note). 
Russia,  wages  in,  33--333- 


:,l<; 


Index 


S. 

St.  Louis  Manual  Training 
School,  16V164. 

Saint-Simon,  441,  474,  505,  506 
(note). 

Sanitation,  484. 

Schilling,  Mr.,  reference,  221. 

Schoenhof,  Jacob,  quoted,  64. 
69-70,  73-74,  83,  85,  326,  369, 
411. 

School  attendance,  151-152. 

Schools  of  apprenticeship,  162- 
164. 

Schultze,  216-217. 

Schulze-Gaevernitz,  quoted,  396 
(note). 

Silk,  culture  and  manufacture 
in  U.  S.,  34-39- 

Silver,  production  in  U.  S.,  10- 
11. 

Sismondi,  quoted,  99-100,  441. 

Smith,  Adam,  73.  385- 

Snowden,  Maj.-Gen.,  248. 

Socialism,  471-477,  505-507- 

Sovereign,  Mr.  303. 

Spain,  wages  in,  332. 

State  intervention,  478-480. 

State  operation,  484-485. 

"  Statistique  de  l'lndustrie  Min- 
erale,"  quoted,  12,  16  (note), 
98  (note). 

Steel,  product  in  U.  S.,  see 
"  Iron." 

Steinway,  Mr.,  quoted.  284,  405. 

Stephens,  Uriah  S.,  196-197,  198. 

Stevens,  Mr.,  quoted,  99,  100, 
303  (note). 

Stewart,  Ethelbert,  quoted,  323. 

Stimson,  quoted,  116  (note),  182 
(note),  266-267  (note). 

Strikes,  212,  232-275,  462-464;  in 
past,  232-234;  statistics,  234- 
237,  238;  sympathetic,  237-240; 
"  Homestead  strike,"  240-250; 
"  Pullman  City  strike,"  250- 
254;  "  Chicago  strike,"  254- 
257;  report  strike  commis- 
sion. 257-258;  opinions  and 
theories,  258-260;  regulation 
of,  260-262;  legislation  upon, 
268;  persistence  of,  268- 
270;  statistics,  270-273;  reme- 
dies, 273-275. 


Strike  Commission  (U.  S.),  re- 
port of,  257-258. 

Sullivan,  J.  W.,  quoted,  196, 
267. 

Swank,  reference,  14  (note); 
quoted,  20-22,  58. 

Sympathetic  strikes,  see 
"  Strikes." 


Tariff    (protection),    25-26,    466- 

467,  492-493- 
Textile    industries     (in    U.     S.)r 

product    and    growth,    24-39, 

66-69;  wages  in,  310-313. 
Thomas,  David,  15. 
Tin  plate  (industry  in  U.  S.),  20 

(note). 
Tocqueville,   Alexis  de,  quoted, 

365-366. 
Toque,  quoted,  427. 
Trusts,  64-66,  223-224,  263-264. 
Typographical    unions,     161-162, 

179,  186-187,  189-192,   196,  209- 

210,  212  (note),   214,  216,   314- 

315.  349- 

U. 

Unions,  see  "  Labor  unions." 

United  Garment-Cutters'  Asso- 
ciation,  196. 

United  States,  industries  in,  see 
"Agriculture,"  "Iron."  &c. ; 
statistics  compared  with  Eng- 
land and  France,  4;  popula- 
tion and  wealth,  41-43. 

"  United  States  vs.  Cassidy," 
263. 

Unsanitary  dwellings,  484. 

V. 

Vaillant,      M.,      reference,      483 

(note). 
Valesh.  Mrs.   E.   McD..  quoted, 

173  (note). 
Van  Buren,  President,  120. 
Vehicles,     wages     in     factories, 

306-308. 
Villerme,  143. 
Vulcan,  Sons  of,  179,  233- 


Index 


517 


W. 

Wadlin,  Mr.,  quoted,  317-318, 
339,  349,  350-35L 

Wages,  laws  concerning,  114- 
118;  relation  to  profits,  260- 
262;  nominal  wages,  359-392, 
446-448;  theory  of,  359-364; 
custom,  364-366,  504-505; 
wage-scales,  366-367;  supply 
and  demand,  367;  productivi- 
ty, 367-375;  cost  of  living,  375- 
381,  420-424,  450-451;  compe- 
tition, 382-385;  wage-fund, 
385-387;  production  and  con- 
sumption, 388;  recapitulation, 
388-391 ;  mode  of  payment, 
391-392;  real  wages  and  work- 
men's budgets,  393-435,  449- 
450;  real  and  nominal  wages, 
392-394,  501-502:  increase  of 
comfort;  394-396,  451-457;  in- 
come of  workman's  family, 
396-399;  principal  items  of 
budget,  399-400;  the  lodge. 
400-401 ;  travel,  401 ;  horse  and 
carriage,  401-402;  newspaper 
and  church,  402-403;  unmar- 
ried workmen,  403-404;  un- 
married workingwomen,  404; 
housewife,  404-406;  moral  and 
intellectual  conditions,  406- 
409,  457;  prices  and  nominal 
wages,  409-414:  budgets  in  U. 
S.,  414-421 ;  budgets  in  Eu- 
rope, 424-429;  conclusions, 
430-435;  starvation  wages, 
449;  effect  of  paper  money, 
450;  laws  of,  489-490;  level  of, 
497- 

Wages  of  children,  see  "  Wages 
of  Women." 

Wage-fund,  385-387. 


Wages  of  men,  276-335;  general 
increase  of,  276-288;  local  va- 
riations, 289-292;  piece-work 
and  rates,  292-294;  statistics, 
294-3i7;  range  of,  317-321; 
resume,  321-323;  comparison 
with  foreign  countries,  324- 
335- 

Wages  of  women,  336-358,  448- 
449;  employment  of  women, 
336-339;  inferiority  of  wages, 
339-343:  in  large  cities,  343- 
347;  in  Michigan,  347:  in 
large  manufactures,  347-348; 
in  small  manufactures,  348- 
349;  by  states,  349-352;  classi- 
fication of  wage-earners,  350- 
352;  inadequate  wages,  352; 
domestic  service.  352-356; 
comparison  with  other  coun- 
tries, 356-358. 

Walker,  Francis  A.,  reference, 
115  (notes),  141  (note),  269, 
368,  383,  388  (note). 

Walker,  Supt.,  quoted,  3-4 
(note). 

Woodward,  Mr.,  163. 

Wool,  production  and  value  (in 
U.  S.),  26-29,  44-45,  34i- 

Working  Day,  1 19-144.  483-484. 

Workmen's  budgets,  see 
"  Wages." 

"  World  Almanac,"  quoted,  10 
(note). 

Wright,  Carroll  D.,  quoted,  2 
(note),  6  (note),  24  (note),  42, 
47,  91-92.  97-98,  117.  140 
(note),  147  (note),  195  (note), 
208,  225  (note),  253-254,  257- 
258,  259,  260,  261,  268,  277 
(note),  279,  283,  318,  319,  397, 
410,  416,  420,  421,  425,  462,  463. 


PRINCIPAL  WORKS  OF  LEVASSEUR. 


Histoire  des  Classes  ouvrieres  et  de  l'Industrie  en 
France  avant  1789.  2me  edition.  2  vol.  in-8°.  Tom.  I. 
1900.     Paris. 

Histoire  des  Classes  ouvrieres  en  France  depuis  1789 
jusqu'a  nos  Jours.     2  vols.  in-8°.     1867. 

La  Question  de  l'or.     i  vol.  in-8°.     Paris. 

La  Population  Franchise.  (Introduction  sur  la  statistique ; 
Histoire  de  la  population  francaise  avant  1789;  La 
demographie  francaise  et  comparaison  avec  les  autres 
nations — statistique  morale,  les  lois  de  la  population  et 
l'equilibre  des  nations.)  3  forts  volumes  in-8°,  avec 
gravures  et  cartes.     1889- 1892.     Paris. 

La  France  et  ses  Colonies  (geographie  et  statistique). 
3  vol.  in-8°,  avec  illustrations.     1 890-1893.     Paris. 

Precis  de  geographie  (Terre,  Europe,  France)  a  l'usage 
de  l'enseignement.  3  vol.  in- 1 2°,  avec  les  atlas  corre- 
spondants,  3  vol.     Paris. 

Grand  atlas  de  geographie  physique  et  politique,  cartes 
murales    et    globes    a    l'usage    de    l'enseignement 

PRIMAIRE    DANS    LES    PAYS    CIVILISES.       I  Vol.       Paris,   1 897. 

L' agriculture  aux  Etats-Unis.     i  vol.  in-8°.     Paris,   1898. 

Cours  d'instruction  civique.      Paris,  1898. 

Precis  d'economie  politique,     i  vol.  in-120.     Paris,  1898. 


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